With this move, the central bank has effectively become the sole owner of the GP.Bank, fully known as the Global Petro Commercial Joint Stock Bank.
The SBV has also assigned VietinBank to participate in the management of GP.Bank during the restructuring process.
The central bank’s inspection in 2012 found that GP.Bank was incurring losses due to weak management and administration, and over the past three years has allowed the ailing lender to seek partners and work out a feasible restructuring plan.
However, no viable plan has been made while the bank continues to expose many weaknesses, forcing the central bank to place GP.Bank under special scrutiny to control risks, prevent losses of the bank’s assets and protect depositors at this lender.
The SBV also asked GP.Bank to hold an emergency meeting of shareholders to adopt a plan to increase its charter capital to make sure its real value was no less than legal capital, but the lender has failed to do so.
Under the law on credit institutions, the SBV resorted to buying all shares of GP.Bank’s current shareholders at zero cost per share.
GP.Bank is the third bank to be nationalised, following the Vietnam Construction Bank (VNCB) and OceanBank.
