Revealing the real estate giants holding bank capital

The concept of "related persons" of bank shareholders is extended to include paternal grandparents, maternal grandparents, aunts, uncles, and grandchildren - Photo: QUANG DINH

Banks continue to publish the list of shareholders owning 1% of charter capital and related persons according to new regulations of the revised Law on Credit Institutions.

Public disclosure of shareholders holding 1% of bank capital

An Binh Bank (ABBank) has just announced a list of 19 shareholders (16 individuals and 3 organizations) holding 1% or more of the bank's charter capital.

Mr. Vu Van Tien - Vice President of ABBank, and also a famous leader associated with this bank - is not on the list.

However, two companies related to Mr. Tien directly hold 17.21% of the bank's shares. Of which, Geleximco Group - a real estate company chaired by Mr. Tien - holds 12.78% of the capital. Not to mention, the percentage of shares owned by people related to this group in the bank is 4.65%.

Glexhomes Joint Stock Company - a business in the Geleximco ecosystem - also holds 4.43% of ABBank's capital. The remaining institutional shareholder is Malayan Banking Berhad (Maybank) holding 16.39% of the capital.

In the list of individual shareholders, there are also some people related to Mr. Tien such as Mr. Vu Van Hau (brother). Mr. Hau holds 1.96% of capital but related people own 15.45%.

Recently updated, Vietnam Maritime Bank (MSB) also publicly announced 9 major shareholders holding 1% or more of capital. The largest is VNPT with 6.05% of capital.

The remaining institutional shareholders are related to ROX Group (formerly TNG Holdings Vietnam - a large enterprise in the real estate sector).

Of which, ROX Key Holdings JSC owns 2.43% of MSB's capital and its related parties nearly 1%. Next, TNL Asset Investment and Leasing JSC owns 1.08% of the bank's capital and its related parties 1.87% of the capital; and ROX Cons Construction Investment JSC holds 1.87%.

The list also includes a number of other enterprises holding MSB capital such as: Bai Dai Resort Company Limited (4.96%); Hanoi Green Technology City Company Limited (4.97%); Hanoi - Dai Tu Industrial Park Infrastructure Construction and Trading Company (4.98%), Ricohomes Investment Joint Stock Company (2.64%)...

At HDBank, Sovico Holdings holds more than 417.7 million shares, equivalent to 14.27% of charter capital. This is also the only shareholder holding more than 5% of capital according to HDBank's announcement.

Sovico is part of the Sovico Group ecosystem of billionaire Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao. This enterprise invests in many sectors, from real estate to aviation, banking and finance...

Meanwhile, OCB also has a list of 19 shareholders owning more than 1% of the bank's charter capital. In addition to 3 foreign shareholders, Aozora Bank (15%), Portal Global Limited (3%) and Pyn Elite Fund (2.4%), the remaining 16 domestic individuals and enterprises hold more than 60% of the charter capital.

Regarding the group of individual shareholders, Mr. Trinh Van Tuan, Chairman of OCB, and related persons hold nearly 20% of capital. In the group of organizations, there are Binh An House Investment Joint Stock Company (4.7%), Greenwave Capital (4.4%), HVR Investment (3.85%), Tay Ninh Industrial Park Infrastructure Development Joint Stock Company (3.24%), Hve Renewable Energy (3.14%), Next Green Capital (2.89%), TQA Investment Company Limited (1.13%)...

Many banks have not yet announced. The number of real estate enterprises holding bank capital may be updated in the near future.

In addition to real estate, banks are also attractive to many other sectors such as insurance, retail businesses... Like Prudential Vietnam, this life insurance company owns shares in at least 3 banks (MBB, Vietinbank, ACB)... Or like Masan Group and related parties also hold more than 15% of capital at Techcombank.

Why is it necessary to make it public?

Before July 1, 2024, information disclosure only applies to major shareholders holding 5% or more of capital. However, to prevent bank manipulation, the Law on Credit Institutions (amended) introduces new, stricter regulations.

Disclosure of shareholder information from 1% of capital is considered a solution to support relevant agencies in monitoring and inspecting to assess the risk level of credit institutions.

Mr. Phan Duy Hung, CFA, senior analyst director at Visrating, said governance risks can arise when individuals holding important positions in banks and corporations can influence banking operations to serve personal purposes.

Some examples given are SCB recently or Construction Bank (CB Bank) and Global Commercial Joint Stock Bank (GP Bank) in 2015.

"Bank operations are dominated by a small number of shareholders, and banks have been heavily lending to real estate developers and projects linked to these shareholders.

Due to the decline in financial capacity of related enterprises and their projects, the bank had to bear a sharp increase in bad debts and prolonged losses, eventually leading to default on payments," Visrating experts reiterated the lesson.

According to VPBanks Securities experts, the regulation on disclosing information about shareholders of 1% or more will help investors have a clearer view of the ownership structure, thereby more accurately assessing the risks and potential of the bank.

At the same time, reducing the maximum ownership ratio of shareholders and related parties will limit the ability of a group of shareholders to manipulate the bank.

However, experts also worry that reducing ownership ratios could also create difficulties in bank management. Without a major shareholder taking a leading role, banks may have difficulty reaching consensus and making strategic decisions.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/lo-dien-nhung-dai-gia-bat-dong-san-tam-co-nam-von-ngan-hang-20240827202315147.htm