201117Intellasia Finance Vietn
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finance & business news 20 November FINANCE . 1 Hotel occupancy rises in HCM City 44 Reference exchange rate down by 4 VND at week's beginning 1 Inland waterway holds small transport market share 44 Exchange rate will be kept stable: SBV governor 2 BIZ NEWS. 45 Vietnam's forex reserves continue to increase to $46b 3 Business Briefs 20 November, 2017 45 Loans in foreign currency to be continued in 2018 3 VN Index drops from 10-year high 46 Banks announce upcoming divestment plans 3 Vietnamese stock market eyes development trends 46 Vietnamese fintech market looking at bright prospects 4 Fund manager optimistic on VN stock market 47 Not on radar 5 SCIC to sell 21.79pct stake at Vinaconex 48 SBV leader believes in healthier banking activities in coming time 6 Sao Ta Foods becomes Ben Tre Aquaproduct affiliate 49 Finance minister: Public debt, while high, is under control 6 Petrolimex stocks fall with sinking performance 49 SBV Governor: Tighten credit for high-end property developments 7 Real estate inventory value approximates $1.14bil 50 Startups still looking for capital from venture funds 8 VN firms urged to trade with HK 50 New regulations on use of credit cards 8 Mekong Agriculture Technology Challenge programme starts 51 Visa study highlights economic benefits of cashless cities 9 Da Nang property surges after Apec 52 Hanoi will have additional $600m a year if not using cash in Strong industry, trade sectors account for 33pct of HCM payment: study 10 City's GRDP 53 Da Nang to host Asean Banking Council Meeting 10 HCM City steps up cooperation with IFC 54 Women-led SMEs still struggle with financing 11 Industry, trade sector see strong growth in HCM City 54 Capital for real estate, BOT projects to fall 12 Companies pledge VND40 billion for local tourism publicity 55 Transparent policies needed to draw foreign capital 12 Japanese backs Da Nang tourism 55 Experts: Tax, customs reform needed 14 Vietnam trade fair begins in Cambodia 56 Government to target 'reasonable' wealth distribution 15 Vietnam Expo 2017 promotes new products for 2018 56 PPP law to be drafted in 2018 17 Vietnam gets ready to celebrate 20 years of internet 57 PM demands measures to tackle shortcomings of Management of product origin to be enhanced 57 public-private partnerships 17 Sales & Marketing Camp 2017 officially opens in HCM City 58 WEF to propose policies for Vietnam to seize 4IR opportunities 18 Dung Quat EZ attracts more than $11 million investment 59 Promoting VN innovation critical: PM 19 Stripe International's ambition to redraw Vietnamese Special economic zonesnew impetus for economic development 19 fashion map 59 FDI pursuit should focus on US and EU: expert 22 Jardine Matheson firm builds up over $900 million stake Workforce growth turns modest 23 in Vinamilk 60 Recruiting & retaining 23 Finnish firm pours over $33 million into clean energy project Rising global coal prices a threat to budget 25 in Hanoi 60 MoIT's power tariff proposals will benefit hotels 26 Company to build factory to increase chicken exports 61 Ban on casino entry lifted 27 Debt-ridden firm resumes mammoth theme park Leather, footwear industries expand exports to EU 29 construction in southern Vietnam 61 US exports to Vietnam resume with first shipments delivered 30 Local firms may not be qualified as major suppliers of Walmart 62 Trillion-dong street food market remains unexploited 30 Sao Ta Foods becomes Ben Tre Aquaproduct affiliate 63 Is e-commerce sector no longer available to Vietnamese Mai Linh to join hi-tech motorbike taxi game 63 businesses? 32 Vingroup launches 2 new Vincom centres 64 Foreign brands up the ante in fashion market 33 VNPAY & Thang Long Transport sign MoU 65 Property market stays strong 35 Tran Anh reveals larger loss before MWG merger 66 Vietnam continues to see strong interest from developers 36 iPhone X available in Vietnam from December 8 66 $69.4m housing fraud discovered 37 Russian markets in HCM City 67 No foundation to prove $3 billion flow from Vietnam to US Vietnam attends largest Asia-Pacific food fair in Singapore 67 for house purchase 37 Jica workshop on construction projects 68 Part of the puzzle 38 Office rental price to increase at an average of 8.4pct/year VN auto sales set to miss target 40 within the next 3 years 68 Start-ups face recruiting difficulties due to poor finance 42 Vietnam Airlines expects to open direct flights to the U.S by 2020 68 Startups a 'promised land' for new graduates 42 Startup movement helps increase new enterprises 43 Intellasia Tel: +844 2213 2244 No. 21, lane 173/63/17, Ngoc Ha Ward, Ba Dinh Dist, Hanoi Fax: +844 3759 2034 © All Rights Reserved Email: [email protected] Websites: www.Intellasia.Net www.TriTueAChau.com FINANCE Vietnam finance & business 20 November FINANCE Reference exchange 20/NOV/2017 INTELLASIA| VNA rate down by 4 VND at The State Bank of Vietnam set its reference VND/USD exchange rate at 22,442 VND/ week's beginning USD on the morning of November 20, down by 4 VND from the end of last week. With the current +/- 3 percent VND/USD trading band, the ceiling exchange rate is 23,108 VND per USD and the floor rate is 21,771 VND per USD. Major commercial banks kept their rates stable. Vietcombank set 22,675 VND (buying) and 22,745 VND (selling), per USD, unchanged from the end of last week. Vietinbank cut its rates by 5 VND to offer 22,675 VND (buying) and 22,745 VND (sell- ing), per USD. Meanwhile, BIDV retained its buying rate at 22,680 VND and their selling rate at 22,750 VND, per USD, unchanged from the end of last week. https://en.vietnamplus.vn/reference-exchange-rate-down-by-4-vnd-at-weeks-begin- ning/121983.vnp Exchange rate will be 20/NOV/2017 INTELLASIA| VNS kept stable: SBV State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Governor Le Minh Hung said yesterday he was confident governor that the Dong/dollar exchange rate will remain stable for the foreseeable future. Hung was responding to a question from a deputy as he took the floor once again on FINANCE Friday morning after almost three hours on Thursday in his first parliamentary Q&A session since assuming office. Acknowledging difficulties in keeping the exchange rate steady, Hung said applica- tion of the "central exchange rate" mechanism since early 2016 has resulted in positive market developments. He said since the beginning of 2017, the central bank has bought more than $7 billion in foreign exchange, raising reserves to a record high of over $46 billion. "With this scale of foreign exchange reserves and current management policies, keep- ing the exchange rate steady is definitely possible," he said. On the issue of secure card payments, Hung admitted that instance of payment fraud through ATM cards has risen to an alarming level in the country, although the damage only amounted to one-third of the global average. He attributed the situation to weaknesses in the banks' security systems and the failure of card users and card acceptors to protect individual information. The central bank has issued several policies and regulations and increased monitoring of bank cards to make them more secure, he said. On intricate cross-ownership in the banking system that has been in vogue for a long time, the Governor said the case of a group of large shareholders holding sway over bank operations has been identified and dealt with, making them more transparent. "So far, no individual owns more than five per cent of the total equity of a bank. The instances of a pair of banks holding shares in each other have reduced from seven in 2012 to two. Instances of pairs of banks where one bank owns shares in the other bank have reduced from five to two," he said. He added that if the NA approves the draft law on credit institutions, the situation will be resolved more thoroughly. Besides this, the central bank would step up inspections to monitor banks' shareholders and related people, and strictly deal with violations on share ownership, he said. Responding to a question from deputy Bui Van Xuyen of Thai Binh Province on non- performing loans (NPLs), the governor said the bad debt ratio as of September this year was 2.34 per cent. However, if potential NPLs and those sold to the Vietnam Asset Management Compa- ny were taken into account, the total value of NPLs amounted to VND556 trillion ($24.5 billion), or 8.61 per cent of total outstanding loans, more than one percentage point lower than that at the end of last year. Deputy Dang Ngoc Nghia from the central province of Thua Thien Hue asked if the central bank could waive debts or reduce interest rates on loans taken by victims of re- cent typhoons in the central region to ease their burden. Hung said the central bank had, in fact, instructed banks to estimate damage caused by the disasters and restructure people's debts. The Vietnam Bank for Social Policies would continue to check and reviews the situation and decide to waive or reschedule the debts of disaster victims, he added. "If needed, commercial banks can ask the central bank and the Ministry of Finance to Intellasia 20 November 2017 2 / 69 Vietnam finance & business 20 November forgive their debts," he said. Responding to the concern that too much money had flowed into real estate, raising the risk of a property bubble, the central bank governor said loans to the real estate sec- tor amounted to VND400 trillion, accounting for some 6.5 per cent of total outstanding loans.