finance & business news 4 July 2017 FINANCE . .1 JLL: Vietnam remains a bright spot for hotel investors and Reference exchange rate up 9 VND 1 operators 26 Banks eagerly seek to purchase retail segment 2 Deputy PM encourages autos carrying Vietnamese brand name 27 Foreign capital keeps flowing into bonds 3 Rentals at IPs in south heading upwards 28 Cashing in: Vietnamese bank buys out Australian partner in Saigon 4 Human resources training needs improvement 29 Sacombank targets $44.5 million profit 4 VN to cooperate with Saudi Arabia in renewable energy projects 30 Macro economy remains stable in six months 5 Hue to invest $52 million in agricultural restructuring 31 Government regular meeting discusses socio-economic Investors to pour $1.77b into Kien Giang 31 situation in H1 5 Vietnamese firms 'indifferent' to technology transfer from Korea 32 There are wide doors for further economic growth, says PM 7 Dak Lak becomes more attractive to investors 33 Gauging room for further growth: starting from state-owned BIZ NEWS . 33 enterprises 8 Business Briefs July 04, 2017 33 Keeping inflation below 4pct is achievable: deputy PM 9 Markets advance further on banks, brokerages 34 New policies take effect from July 10 Positive Q2 reports to drive up VN stocks 34 Find ways to step up EU exports, VN firms urged 11 Brokerages: Market unpredictable this week 35 Vietnam's exports forecast to hit 195 billion USD in 2017 12 Efforts needed to upgrade stock market 36 Export value of forest products expected to exceed 7.5 billion Vietnamese giants race to loosen foreign ownership 36 USD 12 Masan Consumer to issue 5 million ESOP shares 38 Ben Tre aims to fetch 400 million USD from exports 13 Tracodi adds new line of business, expands board of directors 38 Seafood processing fuels export in Tien Giang 13 HAGL expects 1.6 per cent revenue drop in 2017 39 Quang Ninh's export earnings increase by 6.7pct in first half 13 Vinamilk tops most valuable firms list 39 Vietnam spends heavily on fertiliser, pesticide imports 11,400 market frauds discovered 40 from China 14 Vietnam borrows $100 million from Korea to build 22 bridges 41 China remains Vietnam's top rice importer 14 Foreigners allowed to apply for visas online 41 Mekong Delta region enjoys 3.5 billion USD trade surplus Industrial land rent continues to 'escalate' 42 in six months 14 Prime minister gets report on faulty fishing boats 42 Vietnam, Russia look to $10 billion bilateral trade 15 Over 6 trillion VND to upgrade airport infrastructure 43 US to partially terminate anti-subsidy investigations in Chinese firm builds waste treatment plant in Can Tho 43 Vietnam's steel nails 16 EVN gets more price decision-making power 44 Australian ban on VN prawns ends this week 16 HTP, PVGasD clinch power plant deal 44 More than 32pct of businesses still have financial difficulties 17 Thanh Thanh Cong to develop 20 solar power projects 45 PM requests stronger administrative reform 18 $2.3 billion Nam Dinh power plant making headway 46 HCM City to expand veggie traceability programme 18 Firm allowed to conduct survey for $200mn solar power plant HCM City to make origin of poultry meat and egg traceable 19 construction in Vietnam 47 Quality key for modern trade 19 HCM City supports Siam Cement in making green building Agriculture sector urged focus on main targets 20 materials 47 International lenders vital to rise up SMEs 21 Vietnam Airlines opens new 24/7 customer service centre 48 Investors keen on renewable projects 23 Volkswagen Vietnam expands dealership network 48 Convenience store boom fuels concern over market saturation 23 B2S stationery store launched in Vietnam 48 Restaurant chains: fine line between winning and losing 24 High-quality product fair held in Quy Nhon 49 Foreign firms eye cosmetics market 25 FINANCE FINANCE Reference exchange 04/JUL/2017 INTELLASIA| VNA rate up 9 VND The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) adjusted the daily reference VND/USD exchange rate on July 4 up 9 VND from the day ago to 22,440 VND. With the current trading band of +/- 3 percent, the ceiling rate applied to commercial banks during the day is 23,113 VND and the floor rate 21,768 VND per USD. The rates listed at commercial banks in the opening hour saw slight fluctuations. Vietcombank cut both rates by 5 VND to 22,695 VND (buying) and 22,765 VND (selling), per USD. 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 Vietnam finance & business 4 July 2017 BIDV listed its buying and selling rates at 22,700 VND and 22,770 VND per USD, un- changed from the day ago. The buying rate at Techcombank was adjusted down by 20 VND to 22,660 VND and the selling rate was reduced by 5 VND to 22,775 VND. http://en.vietnamplus.vn/reference-exchange-rate-up-9-vnd/114274.vnp Banks eagerly seek to 04/JUL/2017 INTELLASIA| BAO DAU TU purchase retail Vietnam International Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VIB) has just completed the ac- segment quisition of a foreign bank branch in HCM City. The identity of this branch is expected to be officially announced by the bank this afternoon. Earlier, there was information that VIB was one of five banks that wanted to acquire the retail segment of the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ). The bank's leaders refused to comment about this deal but affirmed that VIB still con- tinued its plan to purchase another bank's retail segment in 2017. Although the specific identity of the bank whose retail segment would be acquired was not disclosed, Han Ngoc Vu, CEO of VIB said the criteria for selecting the object to acquire were good asset quality and transparency. Thus, along with the appearance in large number of banks and foreign bank branches in Vietnam over the last period, some banks had to withdraw from the retail segment. Most recently, ANZ Vietnam successfully transferred the retail segment to Shinhan Vi- etnam. FINANCE However, in terms of trend, foreign bank branches are still very interested in Vietnam market. Reportedly, two foreign banks are looking to acquire the retail segment of an- other bank. Of which, the remaining banks are also aggressively implementing the strategy to promote retail segment. Currently, nine 100 percent foreign owned banks have been granted with licenses to operate in Vietnam, including Woori Bank, Public Bank Berhard, ANZ, Standard Chartered, Shinhan Bank, Hong Leong, CIMB and HSBC. Recently, United Overseas Bank has been approved to become a wholly foreign owned bank in Vietnam. That is not to mention, the country has more than 51 branches and 51 representative offices of foreign banks operating. With more than 93 million people, and sharply increasing consumption, Vietnam is considered as the potential land for the retail segment of banks. This is the reason why over time, banks have strategically planned to boost the retail segment. Among foreign banks, HSBC and Standard Chartered are the two banks that have the strongest expansion in Vietnam. Standard Charter's leaders said they planned to increase personnel for the retail seg- ment in the country. HSBC is also having deeper understanding about the domestic market and is gaining the strongest growth momentum especially in the retail segment. Currently, HSBC leads foreign banks in terms of profits. Meanwhile, having just completed the acquisition of ANZ's retail segment, Shinhan Bank does not hide its ambition to occupy the retail market share in Vietnam. Last year, this bank's profit reached more than one trillion dong, well ahead of many domestic banks. Along with Shinhan Bank, another South Korean bankera "rockie"i.e. Woori is also planning to carry out a series of retail products in Vietnam in 2017. In the group of domestic banks, retail is also considered as a core strategy that brings about revenue in the near future as the room to develop the wholesale segment is shrinking. Even, large banks that previously specialised in wholesale such as BIDV, VietinBank, Vietcombank, etc. are also shifting strongly to retail. Apart from VIB, many domestic banks are also finding banks having strength in retail to acquire. It can be seen that retail is currently the target of both domestic and foreign banks in the market but this is also a quite drastic "battle". An example from ANZ shows that this bank used to be very ambitious with the retail strategy in Vietnam due to expectation on increased people's income. However, the too intense competition of domestic banks such as Vietcombank, BIDV, VietinBank, VPBank, Techcombank, etc. caused ANZ's market share not to be as high as expected. Finally, it had to transfer the retail segment to Shinhan Bank (South Korea). Foreign capital keeps 04/JUL/2017 INTELLASIA| DTCK flowing into bonds Foreign capital is still flowing strongly into the government bond market despite fore- Intellasia 4 July 2017 2 / 49 Vietnam finance & business 4 July 2017 cast about the future interest rate raises of the US Federal Reserve (Fed), which causes the US dollar to increase, and Vietnam's lack of incentives for foreign capital in this market. As per the National Financial Supervisory Commission (NFSC), in May, foreign inves- tors net sold $15 million worth of Vietnamese government bonds but cumulatively, in January-May, they still net bought about 11 trillion dong bonds. In June, the net pur- chase trend of government bonds of foreign investors became clearer.