Citibank to set up a subsidiary in Vietnam
(13 July 2015 – Vietnam) Citibank NA expects to get the go-ahead from Vietnam’s central bank in the near future to set up a subsidiary in the country, which would make it the seventh wholly foreign-owned lender to operate in Vietnam.
Citibank said on 8 July the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) governor would grant it a letter of acceptance, in principle witnessed by Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong, while the bank requests the required approvals from United States regulators to create the subsidiary.
Citibank currently has two branches in the Southeast Asian nation.
By setting up a fully owned bank in Vietnam, the company could help strengthen Vietnam's banking sector and support local and foreign clients, Citi Vietnam's country officer, Natasha Ansell, said in a statement.
Fully foreign-owned banks in Vietnam currently include HSBC Holdings, Standard Chartered, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, South Korea's Shinhan Bank and Malaysia's Hong Leong Bank Bhd.
In March 2015, the SBV also allowed Malaysia's Public Bank Bhd to turn its Vietnam-based venture with local lender BIDV BID.HM into a fully foreign-owned bank.
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