Eximbank plans to issue VND5 trillion ($215 million) in bonds through a private placement following similar moves by other banks.
The bank’s board of directors has tasked its CEO Nguyen Canh Vinh with obtaining permission from the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) for the issue, Eximbank said in a statement Tuesday.
Eximbank, with Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) being its strategic shareholder since 2008, saw its profit after tax in the first quarter drop 37 percent year-on-year to VND280.5 billion ($12.1 million). Its bad debt ratio was 1.88 percent, rising by 0.03 percentage points from December.
Many banks in Vietnam have been seeking to raise capital through bonds since earlier this year.
LienVietPostBank said this week it has successfully raised VND3.1 trillion ($133 million) from 10-year bonds with an interest rate of 7.35 percent.
VPBank this month raised $300 million from 3-year international bonds issued to Asian and European investors. It plans to issue a total of $1 billion worth of international bonds between 2019 and 2020 in multiple rounds, but has not unveiled when the next rounds will take place.
The SBV in May approved VietinBank’s plan to issue VND10 trillion ($428 million) worth of bonds. VietinBank is to decide the interest rate that the bonds will carry.
The Asian Commercial Bank (ACB) in May also approved a plan to issue 2-year and 3-year bonds worth VND5.5 trillion ($237 million), with a maximum interest rate of 6.75 percent. It said the issue aims to increase its working capital and meet rising demand for credit.
HDBank earlier had become the first bank in the country this year to successfully raise VND5 trillion ($215 million) through bond issues. It has approved plans to raise another VND5 trillion in similar fashion this year.
Economist Nguyen Tri Hieu told VnExpress International earlier that the main reason for the rush to issue bonds is that banks have to balance and restructure their capital to comply with regulations on credit safety limits.
Experts have also said that the issuance of bonds is needed for local banks to meet the Basel II international adequacy ratio (CAR) before 2020, as most of them have had their charter capital remain unchanged for years.
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