The stake is currently held by PetroVietnam and the change of ownership will not cost the central bank money. The PVcomBank is officially known as Vietnam Public Joint Stock Commercial Bank which is established in 2013 from a merger between PetroVietnam Finance Corp. and Western Bank. The PVcomBank’s charter capital is VND 9 trillion ($398 million). According to the bank's public information, Morgan Stanley currently owns a stake of 6.66 percent.
PVcomBank reported a net profit of VND56 billion (US$2.47 million) last year, down 39 percent from 2014.
PetroVietnam has to divestment from PVcomBank because the government asked state-owned enterprises to pull out of sectors that are not their main business areas.
Before the acquisition of the PVcomBank, in 2015, the SBV took over three small loss-making lenders namely Global Petro Bank, Vietnam Construction Bank and Ocean Commercial Bank - at zero dong, after their reportedly failed restructuring attempts.
The acquisitions were part of the central bank's efforts to restructure the overcrowded banking sector that was blamed for dragging on the economy with bad debts in previous years. The bad debts of Vietnam’s system banking sector were equivalent to 2.62 percent of total loans at the end of March, compared to 2.55 percent at the end of last year, official data showed.
The central bank has orchestrated 12 mergers among 22 commercial banks and four financial companies. Another five mergers between five banks and five financial companies organizations approved by the central bank over the years are waiting for conclusion.
Vietnam now has 43 banks, including six wholly foreign owned. That number is expected to be reduced to 20 - 25 in the next two years, according to the central bank's plan.
