SCB holds meeting with An Dong bond buyers

By Quynh Trang November 7, 2022 | 07:10 pm PT

Customers and staff are seen at an office of SCB in District 6, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo courtesy of SCB

The Saigon Commercial Bank has held a meeting with investors who bought bonds from An Dong Investment Group, a company it endorsed but which has allegedly committed fraud.

The meeting in Ho Chi Minh City Monday came on city authorities’ instructions.

Many investors said at the meeting that SCB employees had persuaded them to buy the An Dong bonds with a lack of honesty.

Some of them had withdrawn money at the bank when employees exhorted them to invest it in a "new type of product."

They never saw any papers that indicated they were buying bonds, and were merely told to sign a payment order. They received the bonds 10 days later.

Hoang Minh Hoan, deputy standing director of SCB, said the bank never told its employees to be "dishonest" with customers.

But the bank is concerned and would cooperate with Tan Viet Securities, the bond issuer, and government agencies to assist the customers, he said.

Around 40,000 people bought An Dong bonds through SCB, according to Tan Viet Securities.

An Dong is a subsidiary of Van Thinh Phat, whose chairwoman Truong My Lan and other related people were arrested last month for alleged fraud related to the issuance of bonds worth trillions of dong (VND1 trillion = $40.21 million).