| |
|
|
State lenders race to offer securities-back loans
25-SEP-2007 Intellasia | 20/Sep/2007 Dau Tu Chung Khoan page 25
Sep 25, 2007 - 7:06:00 AM
|
|
Restricting securities loans under Instruction3of the central bank has made many joint stock banks headache because they had previously injected quite much capital to investors. However, as for state run banks, this is one of favourable conditions for them to promote lending activities because their securities lending amount has not yet reached 3% of total outstanding loans. Furthermore, lending balance of state-run banks is far bigger than that of joint stock banks, thus, the level of 3% out of total outstanding loans is huge, being capable of meeting capital demand of securities investors. Currently, state-owned banks are developing securities credit services.
Huynh Song Hao, vice director of Vietcombank in HCM City said Vietcombank has for a long time not paid sufficient attention to securities credit services. In fact, the bank has only offered investors loans mortgaged by shares to serve for production and business purposes but not securities re-investment. Currently, securities lending balance of Vietcombank remains totally zero.
However, Vietcombank has recently planned and is building securities lending products which are scheduled to be launched in November. "Securities credit is of great potentials in the future when the stock market is strongly developing. Nevertheless, this does not mean that securities credit services are not accompanied with risks. Therefore, Vietcombank has to build a sustainable risk management plan before launching securities lending services," added Hao.
Meanwhile, the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam (Agribank)-HCM City branch, after temporarily stopping securities lending activities [from mid-2006 to the end of the second quarter of 2007], has recently signed a cooperation deal with the Agriseco Securities Co-HCM City arm and the Au Lac Securities Co to serve capital for investors.
According to Agribank-HCM City arm, after signing the contract with the two above securities companies, many other securities companies have asked for cooperation with the bank. Agribank said that its securities loans is still abundant because the bank had stopped lending securities for long time. However, in short-term, Agribank-HCM City arm, can only satisfy capital demand of the two aforementioned securities companies.
The Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (Bidv)-Nam Ky Khoi Nghia branch is also offering securities-backed loans. However, in order to minimise risks, Bidv-Nam Ky Khoi Nghia branch carefully selects borrowers and only lends investors who mortgage by listed shares. The credit limit is only 10,000-15,000 dong a share with a relatively low interest rate of only 1% a month within six months
Experts said that capital demand for securities investment has not yet reduced over the last time when share prices sharply slashed. A director of a HCM City-based securities company said, the stock market has signalled recovery over the last time, hence, many investors have asked for repo services. Some investors have sought capital from state-run banks.
According to experts, securities credit will develop, following the development of the stock market.
Currently, almost all joint stock banks have stopped offering securities loans in a bid to adjust their securities lending balance of less than 3% as required by the central bank.
|
 |
|
| |
|
