On December 7, 2022, at the headquarters of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha had a meeting with Ms. Katrin Ochsenbein, Program Manager, Macroeconomic Support Division, of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).
At the meeting, Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha warmly welcomed Ms. Katrin Ochsenbein to visit and work with the SBV. The SBV Deputy Governor expressed highly appreciation for the cooperation and the support of SECO to Vietnam in general and the SBV in particular over the past years, especially in the context that Vietnam had become a middle income country and graduated from most of concessional ODA resources of large financial institutions such as the WB, the ADB, etc., and therefore Vietnam now has to access capital resources with the borrowing conditions close to the commercial loans, and has few opportunities to receive new non-refundable grants.
Moreover, the SBV Deputy Governor also highly praised the support from the traditional partners of SECO, such as the WB, the IFC, the ADB, etc., which, based on SECO funding resources, have effectively supported the SBV through various programs and projects. A typical example is the “Strengthening Banking Sector Soundness and Development Project”, which has been implemented since 2018. This is an important project with the expectations of supporting the SBV to effectively implement the Scheme of restructuring the system of credit institutions and resolving non-performing loans for the 2016-2020 period and the next period, resolving the obstacles and limitations related to the structure of the banking sector, heading towards meeting the international standards, contributing to maintaining the macro-economic stability.
Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha speaks at the meeting
For his part, Ms. Katrin Ochsenbein emphasized that the SBV is one of SECO’s most important partners in the cooperation with Vietnam, and shared about SECO’s current and planned support for the SBV through its traditional partners, including the Strengthening Banking Sector Soundness and Development Project, the Bank Executives’ Training Program, the Project of supporting the digitization of the banking sector and Fintech management, the Project of supporting the formulation of a legal framework for environmental and social standards in investment activities and credit granting of Vietnam’s credit institutions. In the coming time, SECO would continue to enhance the cooperation and close coordination with the SBV to implement these projects.
Ms. Katrin Ochsenbein, Program Manager of SECO, speaks at the meeting
In addition, at the meeting, the representatives from SECO, the WB, and the SBV also exchanged their views on the orientations and the possibilities of extending the “Strengthening Banking Sector Soundness and Development Project”. In principle, SECO and the WB supported the extension of the Project and would cooperate with the SBV to determine the priorities and specific adjustment in order to ensure the effective implementation of the Project in the coming time.
Towards the end of the meeting, SBV Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha expressed his hope that SECO and the WB would continue to support the SBV in the implementation of the important strategies and programs, including the restructuring of the legal frameworks and the regulations on banking management, the restructuring of the system of credit institutions and NPL resolution, the banking digitalization, green credit, green banking, etc. The SBV Deputy Governor also shared that in the near future the SBV would approve and implement a Scheme on the training of core officers for the SBV for the 2022- 2025 period. Therefore, the SBV Deputy Governor hoped that the SBV would continue to receive further support from SECO and other partners in this area.
Le Hang