The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) has given the green light to a merger between Sacombank and unlisted Phuong Nam (Southern) Bank, it said in an announcement sent to local lenders on Monday.

The merged bank is still named Sacombank and the merger will enable the partly private lender to enter the list of the top 5 largest Vietnamese banks by assets, with the total asset of nearly VND290.9 trillion (US$13 billion).

Following the merger, Sacombank will have an equity of VND22.64 trillion ($1.01 billion) and a charter capital of VND18.85 trillion ($841.52 million), plus a network of 567 transaction points across Viet Nam, and in Laos and Cambodia.

Sacombank employees are pictured in front of its main office in Ho Chi Minh City. Tuoi Tre

The other 4 major lenders are Agribank, Vietcombank, VietinBank, and BIDV.

The merger between Sacombank and Southern Bank complies with the SBV’s restructuring of the banking sector, which is intended to “bring stronger, safer and more professional financial entities to the market,” it said in the Monday document.

Southern Bank was established in 1993 with a charter capital of VND10 billion ($446,429), which rose to VND4 trillion ($178.57 million) after 22 years.

The bank, however, had run into troubles in the past couple of years, with nonperforming loans rising against falling profits.

(Source: tuoitrenews)