On May 8th, 2019, the Forum on Vietnam Banking Industry Outlook 2019 was held in Hanoi with the theme of "Banking 2019: For Vietnamese banks’ further development". The Forum was co-organized by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and Saigon Economic Times.
Among the participants at the Forum there were Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), leaders of the Office of the Government, representatives of the SBV Departments and several relevant government ministries/agencies. Especially, the Forum also welcomed a number of the National Assembly Deputies, representatives of the commercial banks and the international financial institutions, banking/financial experts, securities companies and many businesses.
The Forum looked back on the successes in the operation of the monetary policy and the banking activities over the past time, including the positive developments in the regulation of the interest rates, the exchange rates, the banking restructuring activities, the handling of bad debts. At the same time, the participants also analyzed the current and future opportunities and challenges, thereby planning strategies and programs of action in 2019 and the following years so that Vietnamese banks can develop un par with the banks in the region.
2018 continued to be a successful year for the banking industry, with achievements recognized by the Party, the State, and all members of the economy, as well as the international organizations and the investors. The SBV has coordinated the monetary policy instruments to control the average inflation at a low level, creating room for adjustment of prices controlled by the State, ensuring general inflation control in accordance with the target for 2018 at 3.54%. Stable interest rates, stable foreign currency market and exchange rates have created a stable environment and conditions for enterprises to operate, be proactive in building and implementing their business plans. Effective credit growth with bank capital resources focusing on production and business have been the results of the SBV’s continuous efforts in implementing the solutions to support the businesses and people in accessing credit resources, coordinating closely with the ministries and agencies to resolve the difficulties in the process of implementing the sector-based and industry-based credit programs. The restructuring of the system of credit institutions in association with bad debts handling has gained positive changes.
The measures for handling with bad debts have been implemented synchronously, together with other measures to control and prevent newly arising bad debts, which have contributed to improving the credit quality and reducing the bad debt ratio within the credit institution system. In the payment operations, the banking industry has also been one of the pioneer sectors in applying the achievements of the fourth industrial revolution, thereby improving the service quality, increasing utilities for customers, promoting non-cash payments.
The successes in operating the monetary policy and the banking activities have made an important contribution to the country’s credit worthiness ratings evaluated by the international organizations. Recently, on April 5th, 2019, Standard & Poor's (S&P), an international credit rating agency, announced the upgrade of Vietnam's long-term credit worthiness rating from "BB-" to "BB" with a "stable" outlook. At the same time, it confirmed the short-term credit rating for Vietnam at the "B" level. This is the first time after 9 consecutive years (since December 2010) of Vietnam’s “BB-“ credit worthiness rating, S&P has decided to upgrade Vietnam’s credit worthiness rating.
SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong delivers the opening speech at the Forum
Speaking at the Forum, Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong shared that in 2019, implementing Resolution No. 69/2018/QH14 dated November 8, 2018 of the National Assembly on the Socio-economic Development Plan in 2019, Resolution No. 01/NQ-CP dated 01/01/2019 of the Government on the key tasks and solutions regarding the direction on the implementation of the socio-economic development plans and State budget estimates for 2019, the SBV Governor also issued Directive No. 01/CT-NHNN dated January 08th, 2019 on
"Operating the monetary policy in a proactive, flexible, cautious manner, in close coordination with the fiscal and other macroeconomic policies to control inflation in line with the target set for 2019, which is under 4% on average; maintaining macroeconomic stability, supporting economic growth, stabilizing the money and foreign exchange markets; the total means of payment targeted to increase by about 13%, credit to increase by 14%, with proper adjustments in accordance with the actual developments and situation”..
Covering extensively the operations of the monetary policy and the banking activities, Vietnam Banking Industry Outlook 2019 with the theme of "For Vietnamese banks’ further development” was composed of 3 main sessions. In each session, there was a panel discussion with questions and answers exchanged between the participants and the panelists, who are economists, representatives from the SBV, commercial banks, domestic and foreign financial institutions, National Assembly Deputies...
Overview of Vietnam Banking Industry Outlook 2019 Forum
In Session 1 on the general outlook of the monetary policy operations, the participants assessed the operations of the monetary policy of the SBV in 2018, proposed orientations for the remaining months of 2019. This Session also looked at the impacts of the current trade tensions on the currency markets of Vietnam and other countries. Session 2 was aimed at finding the answer to the question of "What the banking system should do to be ready in terms of finance and human resource for the future development?" In Session 3 with the topic of "Looking forward to the future", the participants discussed about the Banking Industry’s development strategy for the next 5 years; challenges and opportunities for Vietnamese banks to rise higher in Asia; ideas on investment in the banking technology in the context of the Industry 4.0, on promoting green credit promotion...
The forum was able to generate useful information, in-depth analysis on the operations of the monetary policy and the process of banking restructuring in association with bad debt handling, investment in the banking technology in the context of the Industry 4.0; useful suggestions on policies and solutions for the leaders, investors, shareholders of the commercial banks, and for the business community.
VA