Malaysia recorded 12,110 online fraud cases with a total loss up to 573 million MYR (130 million USD) in the first quarter of this year.

WB and ADB are long-standing strategic development partners of Vietnam, having supported the country’s poverty reduction, infrastructure development, governance, and sustainable development goals for decades.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son on November 20 received World Bank (WB) Vice President for East Asia and the Pacific Manuela V. Ferro who is paying a working visit to Vietnam.

Asset risks and profitability of Vietnamese banks remained broadly stable, but small banks faced more loan delinquencies and liquidity issues in the first half of 2024, analysts said.

Some 80-90% of banks have partially or fully applied ESG (Environment - Social - Governance) practices in their operations, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)’s official said.

Credit institutions have proposed to raise the cap of small loans not requiring feasible capital use plans and related person information from 100 million VND to 400 million VND (15,710 USD).

A total of 2.75 quadrillion VND (41 billion USD) went into the property market in 2023, according to the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), an increase of 6.75% in comparison to last year.

Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said on December 26 that the Cabinet has approved the Budget Bill for 2024 fiscal year after many months of delay.

The Vietnam International Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VIB) has closed a medium-long-term syndicated loan worth 280 million USD.

Among the 12 green fields that the State Bank of Vietnam guides credit institutions to lend, outstanding loans focus mainly on renewable energy, clean energy (accounting for 45%), and green agriculture (31%).

Demand for home loans remains low, although interest rates have decreased by 1-3 percentage points per year compared to the beginning of this year.

Firms can borrow from the Small- and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) Development Fund with a short-term interest rate of 1.2% per year and a long-term interest rate of 4.4% per year, effective from October 4, 2023, the Ministry of Planning and Investment announced.

Credit institutions and foreign bank branches are now allowed to restructure the repayment terms to support clients struggling with production and business expenses.

Having hold of a large amount of bad debts mortgaged by real estate, Vietnam’s four biggest State-owned banks are urgently recovering the debts, but the work remains tough for them due to the slowdown of the realty market.

While normally a positive time for car sales, this year the domestic automobile market is seeing gloomy days as Tet approaches, according to local car experts.

Many farmer households in the northern province of Bac Ninh have benefited from soft loans to develop their production and increase income thanks to the support from the provincial Fund for Farmer Support.

Many banks have so far not only closed their doors to real estate development borrowers but also restricted loans to home buyers.

The expiration of Circular 14 on debt rescheduling and interest rates reduction in late June is likely to expose banks to higher levels of non-performing loans (NPLs), yet insiders say it is unnecessary to extend it.

The Bank for Social Policies has disbursed 8,896 billion VND (370.6 million USD at current rate) of concessional loans under the Socio-Economic Development and Recovery Programme under Resolution No.11, with more than 213,000 borrowers.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) is collecting opinions from organisations and individuals on the Prime Minister's draft decision on offshore loans and guarantees for non-residents of economic organisations.