Dozens of banks planned to list their shares on the stock exchange in 2018. However, only three banks were successful, including Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank, TCB), HCM City Development Commercial Joint Stock Bank (HDBank, HDB) and Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank (TPBank, TPB). All of the three banks are listed on the HoSE.
At the offer price of 128,000 dong per share, Techcombank created the phenomenon with the highest offer price at that time. The bank’s shares were then divided at a ratio of 1:2 to raise capital, currently trading around 27,500 dong per share.
Meanwhile, HDBank debuted at 33,000 dong per share and is currently traded around 30,000 dong per share, while TPBank shares were offered at 32,000 dong per share and currently traded at around 21,000 dong per share. HDB is the only one stock among three newly listed stocks to record positive growth in 2018, taking into account the adjustment factors.
Those three banks also recorded impressive growth last year. In particular, Techcombank jumped to the second position in the system, only after Commercial Joint Stock Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) with a profit of 10.7 trillion dong. TPBank’s profit nearly doubled that in 2017, while HDBank attained a record high profit of four trillion dong.
For the remaining banks, some have started to resume their plans of listing with a great determination at the beginning of the year. Some banks which have listed on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) also plan to move to HCM City Stock Exchange (HoSE) in 2019.
Tran Ngoc Tam, general director of Nam A Commercial Joint Stock Bank (NamABank) shared that the bank will surely get listed on the HoSE this year. After this year’s general shareholders meeting (GSM), the bank will invite partners to participate in the capital raising, mainly foreign partners.
Tam said that “NamABank has been evaluated positively by the credit rating agency Moody’s, and the bank has basically met Circulars 41 and 13 of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) on risk management (the Basel II). After the Lunar New Year holiday, the bank will make a proposal for the SBV to approve the early application of Basel II. In addition, the inspection results of the management agencies also showed that the bank is completely healthy and has fully settled the previous shortcomings. These are the very favourable foundation for the bank to list its shares on the HoSE”.
Previously in 2018, NamABank was approved by the general meeting of shareholders to register for trading on the UPCoM and expected to carry out procedures to get listed on this floor.
Regarding the case of Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OCB), the bank targeted to list shares on the HoSE with thorough preparations but the plan was not yet completed by the end of the year. The bank’s leader said that the listing will surely be carried out in 2019.
Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MSB) is a rare case when the majority of shareholders of the bank in the past years were not interested in listing shares soon. Until the GSM last year, the bank’s shareholders agreed to discussed more about the listing, and decided to wait until the first quarter of 2019 in order to have “the highest benefits for shareholders and the bank”, said by the bank’s leader. With the foundation created in the past year, typically the profit exceeding one trillion dong (more than five times higher than plan) and the settlement of shortcomings, particularly bad debts, the bank is likely to soon complete its plan to list shares on the official stock exchange.
In addition to the banks determined to list on the HoSE this year, some of banks that have been on the UPCoM also have plan to move to this stock exchange.
The first one is Vietnam International Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VIB). The bank registered for trading on the UPCoM in early 2017 and its shareholders meeting approved the plan to move to the HoSE at appropriate time. VIB’s leader recently said that the bank will complete this plan in 2019. In 2018, VIB achieved more than 2.740 trillion dong of profit, nearly doubled year 2017 and was one of the first two banks to be early granted the Basel II application in risk management.
Lien Viet Post Bank (LienVietPostBank) plans to hold its 2019 GSM in late March. In the documents prepared to the coming GSM, the bank announced that it will transfer listing to the HoSE this year with a plan to increase capital and accelerate operation after an unfavourable business year in 2018.
In the past few years, bank shares have still been among the strongest growth groups and leading the market. Most listed banks are doing business favourably with bright prospects. Thus, the listing or moving to the HoSE of bank stocks in the near future is expected to bring higher benefits to shareholders as well as new investors.
