PM seeks Japanese Mizuho Bank's aid for banking restructuring

During a meeting with Mizuho’s president Masahiko Kato on Saturday, Chinh said Vietnam is restructuring its system of credit institutions to improve the banking sector’s performance, and is looking for foreign financial institutions’ assistance in the process.

The Vietnam State Bank’s efforts to reform the five underperforming banks under special supervision – namely CBBank, OceanBank, GPBank, DongABank and SCB – are moving slowly and lacking in investors.

Aside from the banking system, the Prime Minister also hoped that the Japanese megabank could invest in Vietnam’s plan to build one million social housing units for workers and low income earners.

Mizuho is one of the top three banks in Japan, earning over US$15 billion in annual revenue and amassing over US$1,700 billion in gross assets.

The lender has offices in Hanoi and HCMC.

In 2011, Mizuho bought a 15% stake in Vietcombank for US$567 million, becoming the state-owned bank’s strategic shareholder.