The IBEC’s ’Vietnam Week’: Connecting East and West

From August 30, 2018 to September 7, 2018 at the headquarters of the International Bank for Economic Co-operation (the IBEC) and the International Investment Bank (the IIB), the IBEC and IIB top officials welcomed representatives of the largest banks of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The range of meetings included both public and private sector banking institutions of Vietnam: the negotiations were conducted with representatives of the State Bank of Vietnam, Vietcombank, Agribank and the Saigon-Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank.

The meeting of the IBEC and IIB executives with representatives of the State Bank of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam was held at the IIB headquarters. The delegation of the state Bank of Vietnam was headed by Nguyen Thi Hong, Deputy Chairman, the IBEC’s delegation was headed by Denis Ivanov, the Banks’s Chairman of the Board, and the delegation of the IIB – by Joseph Kollar, Acting Chairman of the Board.

In his welcome address D. Ivanov, the IBEC Chairman of the Board, shared the Bank's plans to implement the "Bratislava" Conception of the Bank’s further development, according to which the IBEC will bring its core activities to a qualitatively and volume-wise new level, and he also presented the Bank's work in the Vietnamese direction and plans for the development of IBEC operations in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

In addition, Mr. Ivanov highlighted the process of convergence between the two banks – the IBEC and the IIB – and formation of a Group of Banks on terms of cooperation and complementarity of business profiles, considering the obviously great potential of the banks’ synergy.

Nguyen Thi Hong, Deputy Chairman of the State Bank of Vietnam, praised the IBEC’s positive dynamics in the main activities, including the Bank's active expansion of business with Vietnamese partners inter alia granting of credit lines to Vietnamese commercial banks to support export and import operations. Additionally, Nguyen Thi Hong supported establishment of a Group based on the IBEC and the IIB in order to achieve a maximum synergy and benefit the shareholders of two banks. The head of the Vietnamese delegation separately noted her interest in using the IBEC’s unique settlement function which will provide a significant support in settlements between the IBEC’s member countries in various currencies, including Vietnamese dongs.

At the meeting with representatives of Vietcombank, which was held at the IBEC headquarters, the delegation head Nguyen Than Tung, Director of the Wholesale Banking Group, expressed his hope for a further development of cooperation between Vietcombank and the IBEC, in particular, within the framework of implementation of treasury operations and through participation in syndicated loans and financing of various projects in Vietnam, including oil extraction.

Denis Ivanov, the IBEC Chairman of the Board, pointed out the importance of cooperation between the two banks, which was planned to be confirmed by signing of a relevant agreement, while Thinh Thi Hong, the IBEC Member of the Board, informed the parties about limits established by the IBEC for operations with Vietcombank.

At a bilateral meeting with representatives of the Vietnamese Agribank, held on the same day at the IBEC headquarters, the head of the Vietnamese delegation Pham Hoang Duc, Agribank’s Board Member, presented the Bank's mission and rating status.

Denis Ivanov, the IBEC Chairman of the Board, highlighted a possibility of financing purchase of agricultural technologies and and proposed to develop cooperation with Agribank in the field of settlements in the national currency of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Meetings with Saigon-Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB) were held on 5 and 7 of September at the IBEC headquarters. The Vietnamese delegation was headed by Do Quang Hien, Chairman of the Board of Directors while the IBEC delegation’s head was Denis Ivanov, the IBEC Chairman of the Board.

During the negotiations, the parties presented their banks, discussed principles of cooperation between the two financial institutions, methods and forms of an effective implementation of the signed agreement and, in particular, procedures and processes of conducting trade finance operations.

On September 6, 2018, in Sochi a bilateral Master Financing Agreement between the IBEC and the Vietnamese SHB was signed in attendance of Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, and Nguyen Phu Trong, Secretary-General of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam.. The international banking agreement provides for the development of relations with the Vietnamese Bank both in settlements and in trade finance operations.

On September 8, 2018, the Chairmen of the IBEC Board and the IIB Board held a working meeting in Moscow with Nguyen Van Binh, Member of the Politbureau, Head of the Commission for Economy of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, who arrived in the Russian Federation as a member of the Vietnamese official delegation. During the meeting the parties discussed prospects of a comprehensive cooperation between the two banks and Vietnamese partners. Nguyen Van Binh welcomed the positive results of the IBEC's development and stressed his overall support for the plans stipulated in the Conception for further development of the Bank as approved at the 131st IBEC Council in Bratislava, and he also supported the conception of forming a banking Group on the basis of the IIB and the IBEC. He expressed his full consent with the IBEC’s new types of activity with a focus on support of transactions in exports and imports of the Bank’s member countries and expansion of payment transactions between entities of member countries. Specifically, Nguyen Van Binh noted the important of the IBEC’s role in the development of settlements in Vietnamese and Russian currencies to maintain Vietnamese-Russian trade relations.

At all meetings of the ‘Vietnam Week’ the IBEC’s delegation has repeatedly stressed that Vietnam is one of the Bank’s most important strategic directions. The IBEC has all capabilities of performing as a ready platform for a comprehensive development of interstate relations between Vietnam and other member states of the Bank, between East and West.