Foreign ownership in Techcombank officially at 0%

Previously, in its announcement to shareholders on August 30, the bank requested shareholders to approve the zero foreign ownership temporarily, following HSBC’s divestment in July. It also expressed its intention to raise the level of foreign ownership later, but not higher than 30 percent of its charter capital.

Following HSBC’s departure, Techcombank intends to actively seek a capable strategic investor in the near future.

Back in mid-August, HSBC sold all 172 million shares to Techcombank, to be used as treasury stocks at VND23,445 (US$1.04) per share, according to the bank’s board of directors.

The shares previously amounted to 19.4 percent of Techcombank’s charter capital, and are currently priced at a total of some VND4 trillion (US$178.1 million).

Besides Techcombank, other banks such as VPBank and LienVietPostBank have also recently reduced the foreign ownership ratio. VPBank has lowered the rate to 22.378 percent from the earlier 25%, while the rate at LienVietPostBank is at just 5%.

According to LienVietPostBank, the move is aimed at setting aside the ownership of strategic foreign partners and restricting purchase by individual foreign investors.