Vietnam has too many banks, with only a third of the country's 90m people using banking service, a Vietnamese American banking expert said.
Nguyen Tri Hieu, who set up the first Vietnamese bank in the US, said Vietnam only need about half the 30 joint stock banks operating in the country.
Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank)
In the first six months of this year, the Vietnamese banking sector has undergone a bout of mergers and acquisitions.
Tougher competition among banks and the establishment of ASEAN Economic Community by the end of this year will pose both opportunities and challenges for Vietnamese banks.Hieu said quality, not quantity was important, where sound balance sheets, capital adequacy and low bad and doubtful debt were integral to a healthy banking sector.
