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Australia’s Commonwealth Bank off-loads another 10 percent of Vietnam’s VIB

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia–the CBA–today announced the sale of 10 percent of its shares in Vietnam International Bank, with settlement expected by 31 October 2024, per a press release from the bank. The sale is projected to bring approximately A$320 million in gross proceeds to CBA and leave the bank with around 5 percent of the shares of its Vietnam investment.

This comes after it was announced back in June that the Australian bank would be divesting from the company which VIB’s board of directors reportedly only learned about after the State Bank of Vietnam approved the move. The Commonwealth Bank held a 20 percent stake in the bank at the time.

VIB subsequently responded by announcing that it would be lowering its foreign ownership limit from 20.5 percent to 4.99 percent. This essentially means that the CBA can only offload its shares to Vietnamese buyers. It’s not clear what the thinking is behind this.

Of note, the overarching foreign ownership in banks is limited to 30 percent. Below this, foreign ownership limits are applied at the bank level which be raised or lowered at will as long as they don’t exceed said 30 percent.

See also: Banking in Vietnam: Industry Overview 2024

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