Saigon-Hanoi Bank last week opened its first branch in Champasak province, becoming the fifth Vietnamese bank to open a branch in Vietnam’s western neighbour.
Previously, BIDV, VietinBank, Sacombank and Military Bank opened branches in Laos.
Saigon-Hanoi Bank’s branch has an initial charter capital of $13 million and will implement full range of a commercial bank’s activities such mobilising, lending, remittance transference and automatic teller machine ATM services.
Nguyen Van Le, general director of Saigon-Hanoi branch, said after the branch come into operation smoothly for a year, Saigon-Hanoi bank will ask for the approval of Laos and Vietnam governments to open Saigon-Hanoi Bank’s 100 per cent owned bank in Vientiane, capital of Laos as well as expand its network in other provinces in Laos.
On the occasion of opening new branch, Saigon-Hanoi Bank also signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement with Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG) to invest in Laos, a credit agreement with Vietnam-Lao Rubber Company, Vietnam-Lao Rubber Oil and Dak Lak Rubber Company with a total value of $135 million.
Saigon-Hanoi Bank also signed a contract to fund $30 million for project to construct electrical substation at Saythany province.
Earlier this year, Saigon-Hanoi Branch also opened its first branch in Phnom Penh and Cambodia.
Vietnam ranks the second among foreign investors in Laos. By the end of June, 2012, the Vietnam enterprises had invested in 435 projects totaling $ 5.2 billion in Laos and the number is seen to rise to $7 billion in 2015.