Standard Chartered confirms business determination in Vietnam
Information on the closure of Standard Charter-HCM City branch, as signed in SBV’s Decision No 1142/QD-NHNN, was posted on website www.sbv.gov.vn.
The event was not clearly publicised, causing misunderstandings for readers and making SCB Vietnam to suffer many troubles.
Dien Dan Doanh Nghiep newspaper had a talk with Ashok Sud-general director of Standard Chartered Bank (Vietnam) Limited about this.
Allaying fears, he said that this is the totally normal decision in the process of transforming operation from a global SCB branch in Vietnam to Standard Chartered Bank (Vietnam) Limited. However, because of unclear information, the customers and staffs of SCB Vietnam were bit worried on the bank’s business operation in the country.
Regarding technical aspect, the information was posted exactly. But, to comprehend the issue thoroughly, it needs to have an overall view. He remarked that Standard Chartered is one of first foreign 100 percent invested banks being licensed to operate here. SCB Vietnam started operation from August 1, 2009 with the opening of a headquarter in Hanoi and a branch in HCM City.
“According to our [SCB Vietnam] roadmap, SCB HCM City branch must stop operation. Instead of this, Standard Chartered Bank (Vietnam) Limited will come into operation. In line with new model, all accounts of customers (opened from August 1, 2009) of Hanoi and HCM City branches of global SCB will be handed over to Standard Chartered Bank (Vietnam) Limited. Based on this, the bank will seek SBV’s approval to close HCM City branch. Thus, factually, there was no transaction being conducted at this branch because all customer accounts were transferred to SCB Vietnam”, he said.
On being questioned what damage SCB Vietnam had to suffer from the error, he said that in fact, it is very hard to figure out the particular damages but it is true that the bank was affected due to the misunderstanding.
He analysed “if you are a customer wanting to do business with us, such a kind of information will impact negatively to your decision. This would be a loss.”
Right after the trouble happens, SCB Vietnam worked with Dao Minh Tu, an official from SBV and chief editor of the website www.sbv.gov.vn. He received our proposals and committed to soon modify the posted information. SCB Vietnam hoped that the modification could make our customers and readers have a more compressive comprehension about this information, he expected.
The general director also confirmed that SBV’s Decision 1142 totally did not affect to the operation of Standard Chartered Bank (Vietnam) Limited. SCB Vietnam still goes on development and serving customers in Hanoi and HCM City.
The transformation from SCB HCM City Branch (with the acquired legal capital of $15 million) into SCB Vietnam ($150 million) proved the bank’s business determination in the market. SCB Vietnam is making big efforts to raise $1 billion from international sources for Vietnamese enterprises. At present, the plan is on good process, he stated.
DDDN
