City banks still boost lending

31-Aug-2012 Intellasia | Saigon Times Daily | 7:01 AM

Several banks in HCM City are still accelerating lending activity in various credit support programmes, including via lending programmes arranged by the HCM City government.

Phan Huy Khang, general director of Sacombank, said the bank’s credit was growing in a positive way, from negative in Jan-Jun to 3 percent in August. Sacombank is still operating normally, Khang said on the sidelines of a bank-enterprise matching event organised by the city government in Tan Phu District on Tuesday.

In September, Sacombank will continue to provide financial support for businesses in Tan Binh District.

In the year to date, Sacombank has launched 14 credit packages with preferential interest rates worth a total of VND10.5 trillion and $180 million, supporting 2,300 corporate clients. The lending rate of the current packages is some 12 percent per year, said Khang.

Similarly, Nguyen Phuoc Thanh, general director of Vietcombank, told the Daily that the bank’s credit growth had improved much.

Specifically, the credit growth put at 3 percent as of end-June has risen to over 7 percent now against late 2011. To obtain stronger growth in the rest of the year, Vietcombank has been disbursing some VND30-40 trillion every month since July, said Thanh.

With substantial financial resources, Vietcombank is not worried about liquidity, he added.

Meanwhile, Vietinbank is rolling out a VND10 trillion credit package with lending rates ranging from 8.95 percent to 10 percent to support enterprises. Many corporate clients have applied for loans, said a senior source from the bank.

Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of the central bank’s branch in HCM City, stated the effort to unfreeze credit activity was now heightened in HCM City.

Large banks are boosting lending so that cash will flow into the economy and they will achieve credit growth. However, small banks are still reserved as they restrict lending to secure liquidity.

Capital mobilisation is also promoted through many preferential programmes.

According to Minh, the central bank’s HCM City branch is closely monitoring the activities of the city-based banks to timely detect and handle mobilisation and promotions exceeding the ceiling rates.

Minh remarked ACB had resumed normal operation early this week. Though the central bank did provide ACB with liquidity support, the bank overcame the crisis mainly on its own resources.

Premature withdrawals only accounted for 10 percent of the total. “For every three dong withdrawn, two dong is re-deposited, ACB operation has returned to normal,” said Minh.

At some other banks, deposits do decrease, but it is not worth worrying yet, he added.

At the office of Tan Phu District’s government on Tuesday, representatives of the HCM City branches of Sacombank, Vietcombank, HDBank, VietinBank and MHB signed an agreement to offer 18 small and medium-sized enterprises VND95.7 billion in loans, with interest rates of 12-13 percent. Borrowers are businesses active in fields such as textile-garment, plastics, construction and healthcare.

Tan Phu District is the third district in HCM City to link enterprises with banks, after Tan Binh and Go Vap.

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