At the 2019 shareholders’ meeting, many banks’ shareholders once again expressed their interest and urged the bank leaders to list banks’ stocks on the stock exchange.
As in the shareholders’ meeting (AGM) of An Binh Joint Stock Commercial Bank (AnBinh Bank) on April 25, shareholders asked whether the bank would carry out their listing to improve liquidity for the stock.
Dao Manh Khang, Chair of the Board of directors (BOD) of AnBinh Bank, said that after completing the issuance of dividend shares, the bank would finalise the list of shareholders to register at Vietnam Securities Depository centre (VSD) and submit listing application to HCM City Stock Exchange (HOSE).
With the approval of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), AnBinh Bank will pay 2018 dividends to shareholders by bonus shares at a rate of 7.4 percent. AnBinh Bank’s implementation of stock dividend payment aims to support the plan to increase charter capital under the roadmap 2019-2020 to help the bank have a stable financial foundation to continue sustainable and strong development.
‘Dividend distribution by shares does not affect shareholders’ interests. In addition to receiving dividends, every individual desires the business in which he invests to operate effectively and stably. Dividend distribution partly helps AnBinh Bank have stable financial resources, and in the future it will not bring greater value to shareholders instead of only immediate benefits,’ said Dao Manh Khang.
Earlier, at the AGM of Maritime Joint Stock Commercial Bank (Maritime Bank), shareholders also approved its listing plan on HOSE in the third quarter of 2019. In 2018, Maritime Bank’s profit before tax reached more than 1.053 trillion dong, 6.4 times higher than the previous year. This bank’s shareholders also agreed to use all of this profit for reinvestment to accelerate the bank’s acceleration in 2019 and subsequent years.
Meanwhile, the AGM of LienViet Post Joint Stock Commercial Bank (Lienviet Post Bank) has just passed the transfer of LPB shares from Upcom trading system to list on HOSE. This year, its shareholders also agreed to issue shares to pay 2018 dividends from profit after tax and issue bonus shares to increase the bank’s chartered capital in 2019 to nearly 9.77 trillion dong.
According to the bank’s leaders, in the past 10 years, LienViet Post Bank has paid nearly 105 percent (of which over 90 percent in cash) dividends to shareholders. It expects to pay dividends and bonus shares in 2018 at 10 percent.
At this year’s AGM season, many other banks have their listing plan approved this year. By the request of the State Bank of Vietnam, all commercial banks must be listed on stock exchanges by 2020. Therefore, shareholders have continuously ‘pushed’ banks to list in every meeting. The listing will create more opportunities, increase options for investors and shareholders, and buying and selling stocks will be more convenient. This also requires more transparency in governance and enforcement of regulations to ensure system safety.
In 2018, there were about ten banks planning to list their stocks, but by the end of the year, only three banks put their stocks on HOSE successfully: Hochiminh City Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank (HDBank), Tien Phong Joint Stock Commercial Bank (TPBank), and Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank).
