Sep 04 2007 Saibal Dasgupta in Beijing
The central bank in Vietnam has said it will allow foreign banks to set up fully owned subsidiaries in the country. They will also be allowed to open branches or go in for joint ventures with local companies, said Phung Khac Ke, deputy governor of the State Bank of Vietnam.
"We will supervise the banking sector in a fair and transparent way with equal treatment between local and foreign banks," he was quoted as saying in the country's official media. The Vietnamese Government has formulated "transparent regulations backed by a strong legal framework" in order to reassure foreign investors, he said.
The Government is also expected to turn the State Bank of Vietnam into an independent central bank by changing the laws in 2008, he said.
"The greatest challenge of the State Bank of Vietnam is that we are still part of the government and we cannot be a fully independent central bank," he said. The National Assembly, the country's parliament, is expected to amend a law next year to give the central bank independence, he said.
