The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) suspended Dong A Bank CEO Tran Phuong Binh, and his deputy, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Van, yesterday (August 20) for their violations in financial management and lending activities at the bank.
The central bank also announced the assignment of two staff from the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) to take over Binh and Van's work.
Vo Hai Nam, Director of BIDV's Credit Risk Management Division will act as CEO and Pham The Nguyen, deputy director of the second branch of BIDV will act as Dong A Bank's deputy CEO.
“The assignment is to ensure continued operations of the bank and to insure the best interests of depositors of Dong A Bank," the central bank noted in their statement.
Born in 1959, Tran Phuong Binh, who holds a bachelor of economics, worked for Dong A Bank since its establishment. Binh was appointed the bank's CEO in 1998 and vice chairman in 2013.
DongA Bank was put under special control on August 13 after an investigation by the state bank uncovered several violations in financial management, lending activities and other business activities at the bank during 2012 and the years previous, which seriously affected its financial situation and operation.
Established in 1992 with charter capital of VND20 billion (USD950,000 ), Dong A Bank grew to VND5 trillion (USD226.24 million) and total assets of nearly VND90 trillion.
Dong A was not on the list of nine banks set for restructuring by the SBV -- but it fell under the spotlight when in 2014 it posted a pre-tax profit of VND35 billion, down 96 percent on 2013.
The state bank said its move was to ensure Dong A Bank’s long-term development.
