After numerous announcements about bankers leaving their hot seats, the annual shareholder meeting (AGM) season of banks only witnessed very few people willing to leave their leadership at the banks which made their names and returning to their business.
The first case is the resignation of Vu Van Tien, Chair of the Board of directors (BOD) of An Binh Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ABBank). Tien decided to hand over the chair to Dao Manh Khang, ABBank’s vice Chair of BOD. In return, Tien continues to be the Chair of Geleximco Group.
Commenting about this event, investors said that perhaps ABBank’s boss now wants to relax with less pressure at the bank. More importantly, Tien’s name has been associated with Geleximco Group for many years before he entered ABBank.
At the same time, On April 12th, at the AGM held in Da Nang, Nguyen Thi Nga, Chairwoman of Southeast Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SeABank) gave up her position to Nguyen Manh Tan, who is the bank’s general director cum vice Chair of BOD.
The leave of Nga was quite surprising to the market because she was the first time to establish a private bank in Vietnam, and in turn was the Chairwoman of Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank and SeABank. She currently owns many well-known golf courses and hotels. However, just a few days later, SeABank announced the new general director who was approved by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV). The new general director is familiar Le Thi Thu Thuy, Nga’s daughter, who is SeABank’s vice Chairwoman cum vice general director.
Another leave which does not surprise the market is Chair Thang’s case at Kien Long Commercial Joint Stock Bank.
The remaining top seats at banks are basically unchanged. As reported by the press, Ho Hung Anh resigned a vice Chair of BOD of Masan Group to maintain his chair position at Techcombank.
Thai Huong resigned as Chairwoman of TH Group to be vice Chairwoman of Bac A Commercial Joint Stock Bank (BacABank). Duong Cong Minh chose to be the chair of Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank) instead of chairing Him Lam Group. Do Minh Phu left the top position at Doji Jewellery Group to take the chairmanship at Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank (TPBank).
At the AGM of Lien Viet Post Commercial Joint Stock Bank on March 28th, shareholders elected eight members of BOD for the 2018-2023 term. As a result, Nguyen Dinh Thang, BOD member became the new Chair of the bank, in replacement of Nguyen Duc Huong. Thang, born in 1057, has been the vice Chair of LienVietPostBank’s BOD from April 2017 until now. In this new term, Huong did not run for the BOD’s member position due to health reason.
Meanwhile, in the current term (2015-2020) of Export Import Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Eximbank), only one out of four candidates in the list submitted to SBV was approved to be added in the bank’s BOD. This person is Luong Thi Cam Tu, former general director of Nam A Commercial Joint Stock Bank (NamABank). Tu graduated with a merit bachelor’s degree in business administration in 2002, and then earned a master degree from Griggs University (US). She has 17 years of experience in finance and banking sector.
At the AGM of Commercial Joint Stock Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam in 2018, Truong Gia Binh, Chair of FPT, Head of Research Department for Private Economic Development was elected as the bank’s independent BOD member. According to regulations, independent members of the BOD do not join the administration and are not related to the bank’s general director, vice general director, Chief Accountant and other managers appointed by the BOD. Independent members of the BOD do not represent any interests of anyone in the company. Independent members of the BOD are considered being able to protect the interests of small shareholders in a public company.
According to the revised Law on Credit Institutions which took effect from January 1st 2018, Chair of the BOD, Chair of the Members’ Council, and general director (Director) of a credit institution shall not concurrently be Chair of the BOD, member of the BOD, Chair or member of the Members’ Council, President, general director (Director) or equivalent titles in other enterprises.
Right after the amendment of this law, SBV affirmed that one of the objectives of the revised Law on Credit Institutions is to prevent banks from being the “backyard” of bankers. The offenders will permanently be disqualified from administrating and operating a bank, and thus leaders should be aware of that before making any moves, said SBV’s Governor Le Minh Hung.
