이 기사는 2019년 11월 11일 08시00분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

South Korea's KEB Hana Bank is unlikely to acquire an additional stake in Vietnamese state-owned Bank for Investment & Development of Vietnam (BIDV) in the near term.

According to financial industry sources on November 5, Seoul-based commercial bank has gained final approval of the Banking Supervision Agency under the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to acquire a 15 percent stake in BIDV for around 1.02 trillion won. SBV is the largest shareholder of BIDV and has the authority to approve KEB Hana Bank's acquisition.

KEB Hana Bank plans to finalize the remaining acquisition process once the Vietnamese lender issues new shares. The acquisition is likely to be financed through a loan, including bank bonds issuance. According to financial statements, the date of acquisition is December 31, 2019.

Some have raised the possibility of KEB Hana Bank's additional investment in BIDV. Vietnam caps foreign ownership in local banks at 30 percent and a single overseas branch is not allowed to own more than 20 percent. Accordingly, some market observers have expected the Korean lender to purchase an additional five percent stake from the largest shareholder SBV.

Considering BIDV is listed in the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, KEB Hana Bank also could purchase the shares in the market.

However, the Korean bank will not likely increase its stake in BIDV. KEB Hana Bank will maintain its stance and concentrate on its post-merger integration (PMI) process. "We haven't discussed internally whether to acquire an additional stake. A five percent stake is still a sizeable amount given the [asset] size of BIDV, so it won't be easy to proceed," said a KEB Hana Bank official. BIDV's asset under management amounted to 66.3 trillion won as of the end of 2018.

KEB Hana Bank will finance its acquisition through a loan amid the low interest rate environment. The financing through bank bond issuance is not as burdensome as before thanks to low interest rate trend. As Vietnamese market grows, KEB Hana Bank's consolidated profit is expected to increase by two percent, even after subtracting cost of funds.

KEB Hana Bank, running two branches in Vietnam in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh, is expected to attract more local customers under the partnership with BIDV by utilizing the Vietnamese bank's broad network of more than 1000 branches and offices and 58 thousand Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) across the nation. Two banks are likely to share their know-hows in private banking, digital banking, and risk management to create synergy in retail banking.

"We have proceeded with the post-merger integration process since July with constant meeting with BIDV. KEB Hana Bank CEO Ji [Sung-Kyu] visited Vietnam last month to meet with executives of BIDV to discuss future cooperative relationship," said a KEB Hana Bank official.

(By reporter Sohn Hyun-ji)