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Former DongA Bank CEO faces prosecution over $150mn loss case

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A former CEO of DongA Bank (DAB) and 20 accomplices will be prosecuted for violations in financial management and credit grants that led to a hefty loss for the Vietnamese lender, police said on Tuesday.

The investigation police under the Ministry of Public Security said they have completed the investigation into the VND3,405 billion (US$150 million) loss of DAB caused by ex-CEO Tran Phuong Binh and his accomplices, and transferred the case file to the Supreme People’s Procuracy for prosecution of the defendants involved.

Binh was also deputy chairman of DAB board of directors, and chairman of its credit panel. He was arrested as part of the investigation in November 2016.

Among the 20 other defendants are two former deputy CEO of DAB, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Van and Nguyen Thi Kim Xuyen, and former directors of the bank’s branches and transaction offices.

All now face charges of “deliberately acting against state regulations on economic management that results in serious consequences.”

Thirteen of the 21 defendants of the case are being held in custody.

Binh was leader of a group of shareholders which collectively held a 10.25 percent stake of DAB. Another group, consisting of Binh’s relatives, owned 7.7 percent of the bank.

Investigators have found that Binh had instructed others to manipulate the credit institution’s banking and monetary operations, through making false loan payments and grants, resulting in the VND3,405 billion damages.

Binh’s violation was mainly responsible for sending DAB to incur an accumulated loss of VND31 trillion ($1.37 billion), and a negative equity of more than VND25 trillion ($1.1 billion) in late 2015.

In one instance, Binh helped Nguyen Hong Anh, a former Ho Chi Minh City police officer, to borrow 2,000 taels of gold from DAB in 2005, when lending and savings in gold were still allowed in Vietnam.

The ex-CEO then faked papers to show that Anh had repaid 1,900 taels of his loan, while he did not give the DAB any single gold bar, resulting in a VND53 billion ($2.33 billion) loss for the bank. (1 tael = 37.8 grams)

Anh is among the 20 other defendants of the case.

In another case, Binh asked his employees to prepare papers showing that business tycoon Phan Van Anh Vu had deposited VND200 billion ($8.81 million) to DAB, while he did not do so. Binh then had DAB transfer VND200 billion from the lender’s fund to Vu.

Vu had been on the loose in Singapore in January, before being deported to Hanoi, where he was arrested by Vietnamese police for leaking state secrets.

The State Bank of Vietnam, the country’s central bank, placed DAB under special supervision on Aug. 13, 2015 “for violations in financial management and credit grants” by some executives.

Source: Tuoitrenews

Vietnamese food an attractive tourism product

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The culinary festival “Essence of Vietnamese food” will take place in Ho Chi Minh City from April 6-8, introducing special dishes from across the nation, as part of activities to develop food tourism.

According to Vice President of the Vietnam Tourism Association (VTA) Vu The Binh, the tourism sector is developing numerous unique products to lure visitors, with food a product featuring Vietnam’s cultural identity.

Many Vietnamese dishes have become popular worldwide, showing that Vietnamese food can become a distinguished tourism product, Binh said.

Meanwhile, Vice President of the Vietnam Association of Ethnology and Anthropology Vuong Xuan Tinh suggested at a recent workshop to develop traditional cuisine that the country revises its master plan on Vietnam tourism development to 2020 with a vision 2030 and prepare for a new strategy that involves developing food tourism.

He also highlighted the need for efforts from all sectors, particularly the Ministries of Culture, Sports and Tourism; Agriculture and Rural Development; Planning and Investment; and Industry and Trade to make food a tourism product of Vietnam.

The VTA recently established the Vietnam Chef Association (VICA) to connect, support and provide training for Vietnamese chefs, contributing to creating a brand for Vietnamese food.

The VICA will develop standards and norms for Vietnamese dishes, and criteria for ranking Vietnamese chefs, according to Tinh.

Vietnamese signature food of “Nem” (Spring rolls)

Some Vietnamese dishes have made their name worldwide, such as Pho (rice noodle with beef or chicken soup), Bun cha (grilled pork with rice vermicelli) and Nem (fried spring roll).

US President Barack Obama ate at a Hanoi-based Bun cha restaurant during his visit to Vietnam in 2016, helping promote Vietnamese food internationally.

In 2015, Vietnam’s nem ran (fried spring rolls) was listed among top 10 dishes in the world by the US Cable News Network (CNN).

In recent years, more research and workshops have been conducted on food tourism. Books, websites and tourism packages featuring Vietnamese food have also been launched.

According to statistics of the Viet Nam Cuisine Culture Association, Vietnam has more than 3,000 dishes. There are some 30,000 restaurants and culinary zones nationwide, and between 15,000 – 20,000 Vietnamese restaurants overseas.

According to the World Travelers Association, more than 25 percent of tourists are motivated by food. The second Global Report on Food Tourism showed that 87 percent of surveyed organisations identify food tourism among their key factors for tourism development, while 82 percent said food tourism is a significant motivation for tourism development and local economic development.

Source: VNA

Vietnam ready to slap compulsory social insurance tax on expats

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Businesses are also concerned about the added costs they will have to fork out under the draft decree.

Vietnam’s labor ministry has announced that it is going ahead with a controversial provision requiring expat workers in Vietnam to make social insurance payments, raising concerns among foreign workers and businesses regarding aggravated costs.

Tran Thanh Nam, deputy head of the ministry’s Department for Social Insurance, said a draft decree for the new provision of the 2014 Law on Social Insurance has been sent to the government, and is expected to be ratified in about a month.

The decree states that only foreign workers with labor contracts of at least a year in Vietnam are subject to the compulsory social insurance plan, said Nam, as reported by Vietnam News.

“This group, however, excludes foreign workers who are temporarily transferred to work in Vietnam from overseas parent companies, regardless of whether they have labor contracts or not,” he said.

The social insurance package covers sickness, maternity leave, occupational accidents, retirement and death, with employers required to pay 17.5 percent of an employee’s monthly salary and employees to pay eight percent of their own, he said.

News about the upcoming draft decree has raised considerable concerns among foreign enterprises due to potentially higher employment costs.

Keisuke Taniguchi, a representative from the Japan Business Association in Vietnam, said the new regulation could discourage prospective businesses, considering how labor costs in Vietnam are on the rise.

“Small- and medium-sized enterprises which contribute to the development of supporting industry are sensitive to labor costs. They may hold down investment in Vietnam or reduce the number of foreign experts who transfer technical skill to Vietnamese employees,” he said, as cited by Vietnam News.

Nam from the labor ministry yet said such concerns are irrelevant.

“Under the current labor law, even for the employees who are not subject to compulsory social insurance, employers are still required to pay them an amount equivalent to the social insurance premium in their monthly salary so that they can join social insurance scheme by themselves,” he said.

The law’s provision can be traced back to last year, when Vietnam’s labor ministry announced a new rule that would require foreign workers to pay social insurance. The move was not received well by expat workers in Vietnam, who said it was “irrational” since some already contribute to social insurance in their home countries, effectively making them pay the same fee twice.

German Bkay M Adam, who works for a multinational firm based in Hanoi, questioned the relevance of the perks, saying: “Like many other expatriates, I already have adequate medical coverage from my company. Thus, for me, it makes no sense to pay the insurance. I would rather keep the money than pay it to the local government.”

Some experts are also worried that the new regulation will force companies to spend more on foreign laborers, making Vietnam’s business environment less competitive.

The new provision for the social insurance law was originally scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2018, the same date when tariffs for cars imported from ASEAN countries into Vietnam got eliminated under the ASEAN Trade In Goods Agreement.

The number of expats living and working in Vietnam has increased to nearly 84,000 in 2017 from over 12,600 in 2004. Their average income for dropped by 14.5 percent from the previous year to $88,096 in 2017, according to a HSBC survey in September last year.

Source: VnExpress

Lessons to be learned in Vietnam from Thailand’s sex industry

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Thai sex workers are offered unofficialprotection, but for the men and women who walk Saigon’s dark streets, the security is not there.

“Call me Ryn, I like that name!” a transgender woman told me with a hoarse voice and a shy smile, preferring the female name than her given one.

Ryn works at a bar in Soi Nana, one of many glittering alleys along Sukhumvit which often sit on top of the must-visit places in Bangkok. At these red light districts, sex workers, male or female, provide all kinds of services, from a fun date to arousing massages.

The alleys stand right next to a shopping center crowded with Muslims.

A man having fun all night at Soi Cowboy can take a short walk to the mall and buy beautiful hijabs for his wife or lover back home.

It’s hard to work out if prostitution is legal in Thailand. The country has at least three laws defining the acts of selling one’s body and enticing sexual desires for money as illegal. In 2003, the Ministry of Justice planned to legalize prostitution to collect taxes and try to control STDs, but eventually it could not rule over traditional ethical values.

Lacking a legal status, red light districts remain an important part of Thailand’s tourism industry, generating $6.4 billion in 2015. Authorities in Bangkok and Pattaya have loosened their grip by allowing red light districts to appear on tourist maps. Officials tend to turn a blind eye and dismiss sex deals as a one-night stands with mutual benefits.

So whether the Thai government wants its country to be associated with a famous sex industry or not, the business has been booming for the past decades.

Thailand’s health ministry said the country has around 120,000 sex workers. Each of them earned 5,000 baht ($160) per night in 2017, 17 times more than the country’s minimum wage.

Ryn sends most of her money back to her rural home in northern Thailand, which she left to escape discriminatory eyes.

Her life as a sex worker helps her to take care of her entire family, and it has paid for a house for her parents and her transgender operation.

She said she has received support from civil rights groups for regular health checks and protection against sexual violence and human trafficking.

Red light districts in Thailand are constantly guarded by police guard to make sure sex workers are not beaten or abused. They are unofficially recognized as part of the economy.

In Vietnam, sex workers are commonly looked down upon as social evils.

Nguyen Xuan Lap, director of the Social Evil Prevention Department at the labor ministry, told reporters last week that: “Prostitution cannot be a job. Not until 2020 at least.”

Lap said that Vietnamese authorities have been “too humane” by not criminalizing prostitution or publicly shaming sex workers. These workers are fined in Vietnam if caught.

His statement makes me worried for the sex workers who stand on dark streets or run their motorbikes around Saigon looking for clients, an uneasy feeling that I don’t have about Ryn and her wellbeing.

Figures in 2016 indicated there were nearly 101,300 sex workers in Vietnam, not much less than in Thailand.

I do not think that threats to criminalize them will eliminate their existence in the near future. No matter how the authorities put it, prostitution is practically a job, but those that who follow that line of occupation in Vietnam do not receive protection. They struggle by themselves with the risks of diseases, abuse, violence, rip-offs and trafficking.

It’s not clear when prostitution will be deemed legal in Vietnam, possibly never, and that uncertainty will lead to many consequences, such as child sex and sex slavery, which used to plague the Thai industry before its red light districts were recognized.

By: Khai Don

*Khai Don is a writer based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The opinions expressed are her own.

Tour guide fined for letting Chinese visitor spread distorted truth of Vietnamese history

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The Chinese woman has left Vietnam and it is likely she will be banned from returning to the country.

Authorities in Vietnam’s coastal city of Da Nang have fined a local tour guide for allowing a Chinese tourist to take over and spread distorted information about Vietnam’s history and culture to other visitors.

Tran A Hung was fined VND12.5 million ($548) for failing to manage his client in accordance with regulations outlined in his contract, the city’s tourism department said on Tuesday.

Hung was guiding four Chinese visitors to Da Nang Museum in the central city in late February.

In a video posted on social media on February 28, a Chinese woman identified as Wang JiHong, 48, one of Hung’s clients, taking on the role of a tour guide herself at the museum.

She said the Vietnamese traditional long dress ao dai came from cheongsam, a body-hugging one-piece dress for Chinese women, and although the ao dai is made in the Vietnamese style, it looks the same as the Chinese cheongsam.

JiHong went on to say that: “Vietnam belonged to China in the past but fighting had divided China, and thanks to that, Vietnam was born as a nation.”

Hung admitted that he had not been focused on his job, and had not monitored his clients adequately.

When authorities started looking for JiHong, she had already returned to China.

Da Nang’s tourism department has asked the Ministry of Public Security to ban JiHong from returning to Vietnam.

The company that organized the tour for JiHong and the other Chinese visitors in her group has been fined VND4 million.

Da Nang is one of the top destinations for Chinese visitors in Vietnam. The number of Chinese tourists visiting the city last year rose 25 percent to nearly 600,000.

In the first quarter of this year, Da Nang attracted 1.69 million tourists, up 34.7 percent against the same period last year. More than 819,000 were foreign arrivals, up 58.9 percent.

Vietnam saw a massive 1.36 million Chinese tourists arriving during the first quarter this year, up 42.9 percent from a year ago, official government data show.

Source: VnExpress

The glamorous ‘queen’ of Trang An stands tall in northern Vietnam

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The fantastic view captures tourists’ hearts on a trip to Ninh Binh.

As part of the Trang An Landscape Complex, Hang Mua (Dancing Cave) is a must-see for visitors to Ninh Binh Province thanks to its unique location that offers an extraordinary panoramic view from above.

Hang Mua has recently emerged as one of the top destinations for foreign visitors due to its remarkable service quality and untouched natural beauty.

The beautiful panoramic view of Tam Coc from the top of Mount Mua. Photo by Hang Mua Ecolodge

Hang Mua is located at the foot of Mount Mua, which looks like a large overturned bell with a width of 800 meters (2,624 feet). Visitors can climb to the peak on white stone steps which are sometimes referred to as a mini version of the Great Wall of China. On both sides of the stairs, there are handrails that are elaborately decorated with dragon or phoenix symbols inspired by the Tran Dynasty.

Legend has it that the Tran king ordered the construction of Thai Vi Temple, and often visited Hang Mua to enjoy dancing and singing, hence the name, “Dancing Cave”.

To get there, tourists can follow National Highway 1A to Ninh Binh, follow the road towards Trang An or Tam Coc, and look for a sign leading to Hang Mua (Mua Caves). The journey is accompanied by fantastic views of endless rice fields with old villages, waterfront, rivers, lakes and the majestic mountains of Ninh Binh.

Once there, they can conquer the 500 stone steps to the peak to ultimately enjoy the beautiful view of Tam Coc.

The incredible scene from Hang Mua at sunset. Photo by Hang Mua Ecolodge

The magnificent landscape on top of Hang Mua will impress even the most experienced traveller, with the boats below winding down the river.

The natural scene is best enjoyed in May or June, when the whole landscape is filled with the color of yellow paddy fields, and the ancient capital of Hoa Lu appears right before your eyes. The gorgeous view explains why it was chosen as the ancient capital of the country over a thousand years ago.

Visitors can take hundreds of stunning photos to take home from the top of Mount Mua. Photo by Hang Mua Ecolodge

Hang Mua has recently started offering eco-friendly mountain climbing adventures, and a tourist area built with the hearts of the people who truly love Ninh Binh and have a desire to preserve and conserve the Trang An Landscape Complex, which was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2014.

Hang Mua has a beautiful culture and peaceful landscape, with services for tourists including accomodation, food & beverages, climbing, sightseeing, and more.

By Nguyen Nguyen (Vnexpress)

Vietnamese plane makes emergency landing to rescue Danish passenger

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The passenger stopped breathing and started convulsing on a flight from Frankfurt to Hanoi.

A Vietnam Airlines plane flying from Germany to Vietnam had to make an emergency landing in Romania on Monday to save a Danish passenger after he stopped breathing.

The plane landed at Bucharest Henri Coanda International Airport after a doctor had given the sick passenger emergency aid.

A representative of Vietnam Airlines said the Danish passenger is now in stable condition and has been discharged from hospital.

The flight landed in Hanoi three hours late. The airline said it had to book new tickets for people who were catching connections from Vietnam’s capital.

By Doan Loan (Vnexpress)

TPBank Expects a $1 Billion Market Value After Vietnam Listing

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Bank’s pretax profit may double to 2.2 trillion dong in 2018

Bank aims to sell 15% stake via private placement this year

Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank expects its market capitalization to rise to least $1 billion in the fourth quarter after the scheduled listing this month, according to Chairman Do Minh Phu.

The Hanoi-based lender, known as TPBank, plans to sell about a 15 percent stake to investors via a private placement and issue 28 percent of dividend and bonus shares during the last three months of the year, Phu said in an interview in his office Monday. TPBank expects to raise its registered capital to 8.5 trillion dong ($372 million), up from its current 5.84 trillion dong, this year through the shares issuances, he said.

Tien Phong Bank will list 555 million shares at an initial price of 32,000 dong on April 19 on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, which will value the lender at about $781 million. The benchmark VN Index has risen 21 percent this year, the best performer in Asia, prompting companies to sell shares to the public or start trading on the exchanges.

“We think the market will continue rising,” Phu said. Vietnam’s bank stocks have been the VN Index’s best performing sector, rising 37 percent this year through March 30, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“As the market conditions are very favorable now and bank stocks are also running very well, listing at this time is good,” said Dang Tran Hai Dang, head of research at Vietinbank Securities JSC.

TPBank expects pretax profit to double this year to 2.2 trillion dong with total assets increasing 17 percent to 140 trillion dong, according to the chairman. The lender aims to keep non-performing loans below 1 percent this year, compared with the government’s sector-wide target of below 3 percent.

By Giang Nguyen, Bloomberg

Facebook users have low awareness about info security: experts

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76 percent of IP cameras in Vietnam still use default accounts and passwords set by manufacturers, while 55 percent of users use one password for different accounts.

Though Vietnamese users’ awareness about information security has improved, they remain vulnerable when using Facebook, according to BKAV Corporation’s vice president Ngo Tuan Anh.

On March 17, 2018, the New York Times and the Guardian showed evidence to prove that Facebook allowed an analytics firm – Cambridge Analytica – to use personal data of 50 million Facebook users.

Facebook’s representative in Vietnam said this news had dampened people’s confidence in Facebook in protecting the data they share.

Anh said the data was believed to be exploited in the US presidential election.

There have been no official announcements and notices about the disclosure of Facebook account passwords.

Thus, Vietnamese users now can feel secure a

bout their accounts, because affected sphere is most largely in the US.

However, Anh believes that now is the time to ring the alarm over using Facebook without protection.

Currently in Vietnam many apps are shared on Facebook in multiple-choice form, attracting a high number of users who click just for fun.

The users now are worried if their clicks on entertainment apps will lead to personal information exposure.

In general these apps ask users to log in with Facebook accounts and allow access to personal information – name, age, sex, friends and other kinds of information.

“This means that users share their information with apps. The purpose of the developers of the apps is to collect personal information on Facebook and use the information for their plans, especially advertisements. In some cases, the personal information about addresses and phone numbers can be exploited for evils, such as phishing,” Anh said.

Anh emphasized the need to set up strict regulations to manage and use personal information on social networks to ensure safety for users.

Meanwhile, according to the Information Security Bureau, the low awareness about information security remains a weakness of both Vietnamese organizations and individuals.

A report on cybersecurity in Vietnam in 2017 showed that 76 percent of IP cameras in Vietnam still use default accounts and passwords set by manufacturers, while 55 percent of users use one password for different accounts.

A survey by BKAV in late 2017 showed that 63 percent of internet users regularly read fake news on social networks, 40 percent of whom are daily victims.

In related news, BKAV has released a report showing that more than 35,000 smartphones in Vietnam have been affected by the GhostTeam virus.

Source: VietNamNet

Uber fares go through the roof over hours-long Grab outage in Vietnam

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Commuters in Vietnam and other parts of Southeast Asian got into a double whammy on Tuesday evening when they were unable to book a ride with Grab, whereas fares charged by its rival Uber skyrocketed over ‘high demand’.

Users in Vietnam reported they were unable to access the service from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, leaving them no other choice than to switch to Uber or hail a conventional cab or xe om (motorbike taxi).

During the outage, the app greeted its user with an error message, saying “Looks like we weren’t able to connect to our server. Please try again in a few minutes.”

Hung, a Ho Chi Minh City resident, said he could not book a ride during this period, when he was trying to travel from his home in Binh Thanh District to District 1.

He made another booking attempt using another phone but also had no success.

A screenshot showing the technical error occurring to Grab on April 3, 2018

“I tried two different smartphones using two different operating systems and eventually had to call for a cab,” Hung recalled.

Duong, who lives in Go Vap District, said she had to switch to Uber after spending nearly 45 minutes on hailing a ride via Grab to no avail.

The unexpected high demand only helped send Uber fares through the roof.

A journey from Tan Dinh Ward, District 1 to Go Vap District, which normally costs about VND54,000 ($2.37), spiked to VND133,000 ($5.83) and VND160,000 ($7) during the Grab outage.

The unexpected high demand only helped send Uber fares through the roof.

A representative of Grab Vietnam admitted on Tuesday night that their booking system encountered an error.

Drivers were also unable to gain access to the app.

According to Hai, a GrabBike driver, the app has suffered from repeated errors over the last few days. For instance, the app was filled with Thai language for a whilte on Tuesday morning, he elaborated.

The technical error appeared to occur not only in Vietnam but also in other Southeast Asian countries.

Grab Singapore updated on Twitter that the problem had been fixed at 11:00 pm on Tuesday, about five and a half hours after it first announced the issue.

In response to queries from The Straits Times, Grab said in a statement on Wednesday that the outage was “due to problems with our underlying infrastructure”.

Grab has recently announced that it will take over Uber operations in Southeast Asia. Uber will be entitled to 27.5 percent of Grab’s shares in return.

Uber will be exiting Vietnam on April 8.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade previously ordered Grab to provide all information and documents regarding its deal with Uber prior to Tuesday, April 3.

However, the request has not been met, thus competent authorities do not have enough grounds to determine the legitimacy of the transaction.

Grab currently offers services in more than 190 cities across Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia.

Source: Tuoi Tre News

Subscribers shocked to see foreign channels removed from Vietnam cable TVs

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A wide range of popular foreign channels such as HBO, Discovery, AXN and Disney have been removed from two Vietnamese cable providers, angering subscribers, particularly those who already paid for year-long subscription.

The change took effect on Sunday, when subscribers of both VTVCab and its partner NextTV, a cable TV service by military-run telecom giant Viettel, complained that they were unable to find their favorite channels.

“I was confused at first as to why HBO was replaced with Box Movie, Cinemax became Hollywood Classics, and AXN turned into Blue Ant Entertainment,” said Phuong, a NextTV subscriber from Hanoi.

Phuong said she had not been made aware of the change and had no need for the new choices of channels.

Among the list of foreign channels removed from VTVCab and NextTV services are Animal Planet, Discovery, National Geographic, BBC Earth, Disney Channel, Star Movie, HBO, Cartoon Network and other sports channels, according to customers.

Two engineers set up VTVCab for a home TV in Vietnam. Photo: VTV

“When I turned on my TV on Sunday, [these channels] were all gone with no prior announcement,” said Tuan, a VTVCab subscriber from Hanoi.

Some customers felt they had been ‘deceived’ by the cable TV providers, as they had paid for a whole year of subscription in advance and would not be able to immediately stop using the services.

VTVCab: Be patient!

VTVCab general director Bui Huy Nam told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper the change had been announced multiple times since March 20, through different means such as on social media, online portals and on its TV channels.

“We didn’t make the announcement through text messages and email because not many of our customers subscribe to our email newsletter and the number of messages allowed to be sent a day is also limited,” Nam explained.

“In addition, some customers tend to ignore our texts thinking they are spam,” he added.

Bui Huy Nam, general director of VTVCab. Photo: Tuoi Tre

The replacement of the foreign channels with new ones was to “offer subscribers new choices” in the context that all cable TV services in Vietnam were offering essentially the same variety of channels, a VTVCab representative told Tuoi Tre.

“Moreover, foreign cable TVs always make use of this fact to force local providers to obtain broadcasting rights at a high price, knowing we had no other options,” the representative explained.

Such popular channels do not allow the streaming of their programs on mobile devices and through over the top (OTT) distribution, which limits VTVCab’s expansion to streaming platforms.

The change would allow VTVCab and NextTV subscribers to watch their favorite channels on the go, an entirely free add-on service that will become available in May, the representative said.

The new movie channels are also promised to offer Vietnamese viewers a much wider choice of box office hits, with at least twice the number of new movies becoming available each year compared to HBO or Cinemax, according to VTVCab.

“Subscribers should understand that we are watching the content of a channel, not its logo,” the VTVCab representative said.

“I think our customers should be more patient with the change. If they experience the new channels long enough, I believe they will start to see their appeal over the old ones.”

By Tuan Son (Tuoi Tre News)

Vietnam tourist numbers rise 30% in March with influx from China, S.Korea

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Vietnam’s international arrivals rose substantially in March, principally thanks to an influx of Chinese and South Korean holidaymakers.

More than 454,000 Chinese nationals spent their holidays in Vietnam last month, up 52.6 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the latest data from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

South Korea arrivals to the Southeast Asian country also jumped 67.4 percent year on year to 273,000.

Numbering more than 1.34 million, tourists from both China and South Korea yielded an increase of 33.6 percent compared to March 2017, accounting for the largest share by country of arrivals in Vietnam.

In the Jan-Mar period, Vietnam’s tourist numbers topped 4.2 million, representing a healthy 30 percent rise from a year earlier. Vietnam received a record 12.9 million international visitors in 2017.

The rise in international arrivals was attributable to the Vietnamese government’s policy conducive to visa application and convenient direct flights.

But industry insiders are concerned that Chinese arrivals being on the upswing does not necessarily translate into proportionately expected financial benefits.

A large number of Chinese visitors traveled to Vietnam on ultra-cheap tour packages known as zero-dollar tours, in which they bought at shops that evade paying taxes.

This prompted a local government to implement a crackdown.

Facilities at many tourist locations across Vietnam are poor, which is compounded by illicit practices like price gouging and counterfeit goods trading.

By Thai Xuan (Tuoi Tre News)

Fetus dies as abortion pills mistakenly given to mother in southern Vietnam

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Health authorities in the southern province of Tien Giang confirmed on Monday that a local mother had lost her first fetus early last month after taking abortion medicine a staff member of a local medical center administered to her by mistake.

On March 7, Huynh Thi Cuc, a 32-year-old mother who was in her seventh week of pregnancy, was advised to stay in the medical center of Tan Phuoc District since she was at risk of miscarriage.

Two days later, prior to her discharge, doctors prescribed her Miprotone, a type of embryo-nourishing medication.

But a staff member at the dispensary provided her with Misoprostol, used for abortion purposes, after discovering that the embryo-nourishing medication was out of stock.

Later in the day Cuc was rushed back to the center after bleeding from the consumption of two Misoprostol pills.

As doctors at the center said they needed to continue watching her conditions, the family immediately took her to the Tien Giang Gynecological Hospital, where they were told the fetus had died from abortion medicine.

It was discovered later that on March 9, besides Cuc, two other pregnant patients at Tan Phuoc medical center were also mistakenly given Misoprostol. One of them had yet to use it, while the other safely received urgent treatment after the consumption.

A report by the medical center admitted that some of its staff members have failed to follow the regulations on checking and reviewing in terms of drug prescription and dispensing.

The report also said that a piece of software from the center had not been updated on medication information.

Le Van Duc, the center’s director, supposed that the program and the resemblance in name between Misoprostol and Misoprostol were to blame.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Health have ordered the Tien Giang health department to verify the incident and promptly submitted a report to it by 5:00 pm this Thursday.

The ministry also required staff members implicated in the case to be honest in providing information and the medical center to punish those who are responsible without leniency.

In January a pregnancy woman in the south-central province Quang Ngai also lost her six-week-old fetus after a midwife mistakenly gave her an abortion pill instead of pregnancy support drugs.

By Thai Xuan (Tuoi Tre News)

How any Vietnamese can take action to transform Vietnam’s tourism

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Few first-time visitors to Vietnam return for a second trip, a situation experts think can be improved if each citizen sees themselves as a ‘tourism ambassador’ and parts ways with dishonest business practices.

With years of experience in the tourism industry, Tran The Dung, deputy general director of Vietnam’s The He Tre travel agency, said he had witnessed countless acts by local people that are slowly driving tourists away.

“A box of mung bean cakes that costs VND25,000 [US$1.10] in Hanoi can be sold for three times the price just 100 kilometers from the capital’s center,” Dung said.

Some souvenir stores offer a ludicrous revenue split for tour guides as an incentive for leading customers to their business, at the expense of inflated item prices.

Foreign tourists are smart shoppers, Dung said, and would not purchase an item if they think they are being charged more than the good’s worth.

In the long run, this short-sighted conduct only discourages foreigners from returning to the country and hurt everyone’s business.

Foreign tourists ride bicycles in Hoi An, located in central Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre News

In addition, Vietnam’s short-term tourism planning often means attractions are unprepared for large numbers of visitors.

The fact that service quality offered at a destination often plummets with the growth in tourist numbers is part of the reason why Vietnam’s tourism fails to renew itself despite having natural and cultural conditions to its favor.

Dual pricing and clingy vendors are all problems that experts agree can be easily fixed if citizens are aware they are hurting their own business by not seeing further than their noses.

“I’ve once witnessed a shop owner being criticized by fellow sellers for telling the real price of an item to a foreigner,” said Ho Chi Minh City resident Thuy Van, who works in the tourism industry.

According to Van, while authorities are busy adopting policies to boost Vietnam’s tourism, it is these overlooked acts by those who deal directly with tourists that are driving them away from the country.

It is necessary that each citizen is made aware that they are their own country’s ‘tourism ambassador,’ Van said, so that there would be no more stories of ugly attitudes towards tourists.

Foreign tourists watch as a guide demonstrates how honey is harvested in southern Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Out of 90 percent of foreign visitors to Vietnam who are first-timers, only six percent returns for a second visit, according to a 2015 report by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).

Visitors often complain about the lack of entertainment services in the Southeast Asian countries, and well as poor choices of souvenirs that are unique to the Vietnamese culture.

They are also reportedly unsatisfied with Vietnam’s tax refund policy, which makes it a hassle for tourists to claim a refund unlike other popular destinations in Asia where foreign shoppers can have the tax deducted at the point of sales.

“Though I’m a tour guide, I don’t even know as a fact the steps to claim a tax refund whenever a tourist asks me for advice,” said Nguyen Thai Hung, who works for a local tour operator.

Source: Tuoi Tre News

Foreign banks step up personal banking, increase M&A activity

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The year 2017 has witnessed a series of M&A deals in the banking sector, including Shinhan Bank Vietnam’s purchase of ANZ Vietnam’s personal banking division and the transfer of HCM City branch from Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) to VIB.

The latter, in which VIB bought a division of a foreign bank, was unprecedented in Vietnam. CBA HCM City Branch began its operation in 2008, and now has 22,000 clients.

Meanwhile, Techcombank bought a stake from HSBC, a big shareholder of Techcombank in the last 11 years.

Standard Chartered Bank is considering the divestment from Asia Commercial Bank (ACB).

There have been many M&A deals that some analysts thought were signs of foreign banks leaving Vietnam. However, the deals are just moves to adjust their business strategies.

HSBC’s CEO Pham Hong Hai commented that the finance market in Vietnam is very competitive and some foreign banks have to reconsider their strategies and use investment capital in the most effective way.

Retail banking

In July 2017, United Overseas Bank Ltd from Singapore officially established its 100 percent foreign owned bank in Vietnam after an unsuccessful attempt to take over GP Bank.

HSBC Vietnam has strong retail banking division

There are 9 wholly-owned foreign banks operational in Vietnam under licenses granted by the State Bank. In addition, there are 41 foreign credit institutions, most of which are foreign bank branches, set up to serve businesses from their home countries, and some of them are paying attention to retail banking.

Shinhan Bank Vietnam is from South Korea, one of the biggest foreign direct investors in Vietnam, with relations with South Korean invested enterprises. Shinhan Bank wants to join the retail banking market and the quickest way to do this is to take over an existing network.

Shin Dong Min, CEO of Shinhan Bank, said the personal banking sector in Vietnam would develop strongly in the time to come amid the strong support of fintech and the strong recovery of the economy.

Digital banking services with high security technologies will be the key products of banks.

In personal banking, according to Hai, Vietnamese banks have the advantage in large networks and long-lasting relationships with local communities. Meanwhile, foreign banks’ advantage lies in diverse products and international relations.

Source: VietNamNet