SBV revokes National Australian Bank’s representative office license

The decision took effect on the date of signing.

Accordingly, the Australia-based bank is responsible to take necessary procedures to terminate and close its representative office in line with the State Bank of Vietnam’s Circular No. 24/2017/TT-NHNN. Circular 24 guides the processes of license revocation and liquidation of assets of foreign credit institutions and bank branches.

Back in 2014, SBV issued a five-year license (License No. 56/GP-NHNN) to NAB to open its representative office in Hanoi.

The main functions of the branch included carrying our market research and promoting the bank’s investment projects in the country. It also oversaw and monitored the contracts between the bank and other credit institutions and enterprises in Vietnam as well as NAB-financed projects in the country.

NAB’s establishment in Vietnam was said to be part of the bank’s strategic approach to expand its presence within the region to support business clients.

NAB is one of the four largest financial institutions in Australia in terms of market capitalisation.

NAB was known to dispose of its wealth businesses in Hong Kong and Singapore in the past years to focus on its corporate and institutions customers.

Melbourne-based ANZ, which has its license to operate as wholly foreign-owned bank in Vietnam in 2008, also finalised its sale of six Asian retail and wealth management units last year.

The lender, in particular, successfully transferred its retail and wealth businesses in Indonesia, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore to Singapore-based DBS Bank.

It also fruitfully offloaded its retail business in Vietnam to Seoul-based Shinhan Bank in late 2017, as part of an attempt to simplify the bank and focus resources on institutional banking.