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Tet is the time for family, friends in Vietnam

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Two foreigners living in and outside Vietnam recalled their cozy memories with the Lunar New Year, or Tet in Vietnamese.

‘Starting afresh’

I’ve witnessed ten Tet since I started living here. In the early years I went to the fireworks and partied with friends in the expat bars around Hoi An. Often I would meet people I hadn’t seen for months as I tend to live quietly but was also busy with teaching. In the more recent years as I had some dogs as pets, I tended to stay at home or take the dogs for walks during the holiday evenings because it’s so calm, peaceful and lovely to see how people have decorated their houses.

I like the idea of “starting afresh’ – throwing out old things, cleaning up and yet, remembering their ancestors. I’ve lost both my parents in the last two years so this has been on my mind. I admire the devotion to the family, helping out with the Tet chores and working for the parents while they do stuff for Tet. I like the energy of it – everyone off to buy something nice and being excited about seeing their hometown relatives again.

Tet is the time for family, friends in Vietnam

Society has changed rapidly, but I don’t think Tet’s changed so much. However I have seen more noticeable status symbols – new cars, big TVs, brand new motorbikes or bicycles – and especially students with the latest smartphones which cost a small fortune. Also I’ve observed more families eating out in a fancy restaurant instead of home cooking as a way of enjoying their rising prosperity. And definitely more young adults cruising around on their motorbikes just for fun and company rather than doing traditional home customs.

I think there’s a Vietnamese proverb, “A day of travelling will bring a basket of learning” – I think young people are curious about their country and hungry for new experiences as daily life in Vietnamese can be monotonous. It’s also an empowering feeling to have the money and opportunity to see new places and show off or post on Facebook selfies of where you are. Also travel is becoming more affordable with cheaper flights, more buses and more local destinations opening up to domestic tourists. And given all the stress of life in the big cities I think it’s becoming more natural to think about ‘getting away from it all’.

A lot of foreigners (particularly living in Vietnam) are a bit jaded and it takes a bit of effort to impress them whereas the young Vietnamese tourist probably has a lot more appreciation for the simpler experiences of something new. Foreigners are looking for more exotic places and wilder experiences but the Vietnamese just revel in the sheer joy and fun of getting out of town!

Stivi Cooke, Australian

‘Tet is important to me and my family’

My first Tet in Vietnam was 2005. I was told by other American expatriates that the streets would be deserted and to make sure that I had enough food to eat for a week as all of the stores would we closed. That first Tet in Vietnam, I stayed at home and played video games a lot. I know many Western friends in Saigon who speak of the loveliness of the deserted streets of the city during Tet. But they don’t know what they’re missing.

I started to get a taste of the true spirit of Tet one holiday when an adult student of mine invited me to his house during the break. Hospitality was overflowing as we chatted, snacked, drank beer and gave lucky money to the roving bands of lion dancers going through the neighborhood. As the years went on, I got more and more invitations to come to people’s houses to experience Tet, and I really came to look forward to the holiday.

Then I moved to Saigon and got married. Now Tet was even more fun as it was a chance to get out of the big city and spend time in the Mekong Delta with friends and family. Empty streets of Saigon are no comparison to the festive nature of the holiday in the delta.

To be honest, Tet is in many ways more enjoyable than Christmas or Thanksgiving for me. I love driving and walking around the streets festooned with yellow and pink flowers picking up soft drinks, beer and snacks for the holiday. I love delivering gift baskets to close friends and family. I love meeting up with friends and relatives that I don’t see very often. And I love a little time to just be “ở không” (doing nothing).

However, now my family and I are in America. Tet has always and will always be different here. It is not a national holiday here, and it is not widely celebrated either. Tet can be a little sad in the U.S. as we sit in the midst of cold weather and remember the warm days full of fun in Vietnam. But Tet is important to me and my family and always will be. Even though the weather is dipping below freezing and nothing in the streets suggests that a holiday is approaching, we will be celebrating Tet in the US. We are fortunate to know other friends and families that have lived in Vietnam, and we will we celebrate Tet with them.

Even though we are on the other side of the world from Vietnam, I will observe the tradition of my wife’s family and eat vegetarian food until noon on Mùng Một (the first day of the first month in the lunar calendar). And even though I am in another country, I will remember with fondness all of the many wonderful times I have enjoyed Tet in Vietnam.

Eric Burdette, American

By Dong Nguyen – Hong Van/ Tuoi Tre News

Targeted Campaign and Offer Management for Digital Banking

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Nowadays, many banks in Vietnam has implemented marketing, loyalty and support solutions to connect, engage and grow throughout the customer lifecycle with unparalleled marketing resources and support.

As the Board of Management (BOM) member cum Head of Marketing and Communication Division (Marcom) at Vietnam International Bank (VIB), Mr. Duong Ngoc Dung said that, “the campaign and offer management is very important our retail banking business. Our products marketing team create, manage, distribute and measure targeted campaigns across relevant digital channels to reach the right customers with the right products”

Duong said, his bank leveraged propensity models provided by an international vendor to draw insights from user behavior to intelligently market specific solutions to customers based on their individual need.

Key features of the solution he mentioned, which the bank applied has helped the bank to manage the campaign and track the result easily, create campaigns across online and mobile banking channels, access to analytical models that target customers most likely in need of products and services. Based on the solution, they are able to create custom demographic segments for precision campaign targeting and upload user lists for use in campaigns.

“After implementing the solution, products and services revenue from targeted marketing improved significantly, and deliver better results with personalized messages. Time-to-market is our advantage and we move much faster than before”.

According to the information provided, the head count of Marcom division of VIB in 2013 ware 30, by end of December 2017, there were only 12 full-time employees.

“The key contributing factors to the success of every marketing campaign we implement still be assigning the quality person, who is in charge with the right solution, not about the quantity of the the team member.” Duong mentioned.

Source: NCR

Dead carp, plastic bags raise pollution questions about Tet ritual in Hanoi

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Many fish died as soon as they hit the water, while others choked in plastic bags.

Many Hanoi residents released carp on Thursday into the city’s ponds and rivers as part of a symbolic ritual, but for most of the fish, there was a high price to pay for their freedom.

Many died as soon as they hit the water, while others suffocated in plastic bags.

The ritual is an important tradition that takes place one week before the Lunar New Year. The idea is the fish will carry the Kitchen Gods to heaven so they can report to the Jade Emperor about what we’ve been doing this year.

Since Wednesday afternoon, people have been releasing the carp into any convenient body of water, including the highly polluted Nhue and To Lich rivers. Some of the fish could be seen gasping for oxygen on the surface.

Not to miss out on an opportunity, some people waited with nets hoping to recapure the live ones.

“I will feed them to the pigs, or sell them to people who keep ornamental fish,” said Nguyen.

“The water is heavily polluted and the fish will die otherwise.”

Nguyen was not the only one interrupting the tradition.

A group of youngsters determined to keep pollution to a minimum gathered along bridges and around lakes holding posters asking people not to throw plastic bags in with the fish.

Tran Thi Thuy, 68, also took part in the campaign to make sure the tradition was carried out in a “cultured” manner.

Thuy said that the West Lake, the largest in Hanoi, had been filled with plastic bags and incense burners that were “released” with the fish in previous years.

“Many people are actually throwing the fish to their deaths,” she said.

Thich Tinh Giac, a monk, said that releasing carp is an act to honor life, so pollution should not be tolerated.

“Releasing fish with other items destroys the meaning of the ritual,” he said.

Many lakes and rivers in Hanoi are polluted. The problem entered the spotlight after more than 100 tons of fish washed up dead in the West Lake in October 2016. The city subsequently announced plans to spend VND16.2 trillion ($726.4 million) on a sewage treatment project.

Vietnam is also one of the biggest plastic polluters in the world. In 2015, it was named among five countries that dump more plastic into the oceans than the rest of the world combined. Ocean Conservancy, an environmental non-profit, said in a report that 60 percent of the plastic trash flowing into the seas originates from China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand.

Source: Pham Du, Manh Cuong

NovaLand hands over 11 projects to customers this year

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NovaLand, one of the leading property developers, expects to hand over 11 projects in 2018, bringing significant revenue and reducing inventory.

Besides continuing to focus on key residential products, especially low-rise projects, Novaland will expand to smart townships including various indoor and outdoor facilities.

The most important milestone will be to expand to hospitality in big cities with high tourism potential. Novaland will focus on seven main areas, including Hoi An town in Danang city, Cam Ranh in Nha Trang, Da Lat, Phan Thiet in Binh Thuan, Con Dao in Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Can Tho, and Phu Quoc.

Under its Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) plan, in the last quarter of 2017, Novaland completed the acquisition of two big projects—Newton Residence (in Phu Nhuan district) and Sunrise Cityview (in District 7), taking on 99.89 and 99.81 per cent ownership, respectively.

With eight projects being handed over, and 19 others under development along with M&A activities to expand the land fund, sufficient capital has been gathered to ensure the corporation’s delivery commitments and increase its value on the market.

Novaland recorded impressive business performance in the last quarter of 2017. The company continues to focus on the residential segment while expanding to new hospitality and commercial product types as per the second stage of its strategic roadmap.

The company’s total assets as of the last quarter of 2017 increased by 35 per cent year-over-year to VND49 trillion ($2.2 billion), based on the increase of cash and cash equivalents, inventories, investment properties, and long-term investments.

The current assets of the company now account for 83 per cent of its total assets, in which cash and cash equivalents were doubled to VND6.6 trillion ($293 million) from VND3.3 trillion ($147 million).

As of the end of 2017, inventories were reported at VND26 trillion ($1.2 billion), increasing by 70 per cent year-over-year due to properties under construction (VND 24 trillion or $1.1 billion), mainly including land costs, construction costs, consulting and designing fees paid to constructors, and others related costs.

Owners’ equity and charter capital increased by 32 and 9 per cent to VND13 trillion ($584 million) and VND6.9 trillion ($306 million), respectively, via the successful private placement of ordinary shares for Credit Suisse AG Bank, Singapore Branch’s loan conversion of $60 million, and the 20 million shares of ESOP issued in the last quarter of 2017.

Besides, Credit Suisse also approved to raise the credit limit to $125 million which was fully disbursed for Novaland to finance its projects.

Also, in early 2018, the second ESOP issuance of 9.8 million shares will contribute to increasing the charter capital to VND6.59 trillion ($291 million).

A highlight of the fourth quarter business performance was the net revenue of VND5.896 trillion ($260 million).

Total revenue in 2017 reached VND11.6 trillion ($512 million), improving 58 per cent year-over-year with 3,596 units handed over in 2017 versus 3,325 units in 2016.

In accordance with the second stage of the business strategy, Novaland continued to develop key residential products, especially low-rise projects including townhouses, villas, and shop houses. Revenue from the sale of real estate accounted for 94 per cent of the total.

There have been 15 projects with nearly 10,000 units handed over to clients with the average absorption rate of 93 per cent so far.

Source: Bich Ngoc

Bitcoin bounces back from three-month low in volatile trade

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Bitcoin rallied from three-month lows below US$6,000 in choppy trading on Tuesday, but worries lingered about a global regulatory clampdown and moves by banks to ban buying bitcoin with credit cards.

On the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, bitcoin hit US$5,920, its lowest since mid-November, before recovering to above US$8,000. It hit a high of US$8,150 and was last at US$7,922.79 in late trading in New York, up nearly 15 percent on the day.

“Crypto is alive and well,” said Matthew Roszak, co-founder and chairman of U.S. blockchain technology company Bloq.

“This whole thing is a movie. It’s not a static feature. We will see continued investment, continued adoption, inspiring developers. This is the real thing.”

Bitcoin has slumped in recent sessions as a risk-off mood spread across financial markets. It has fallen about 70 percent from its peak of almost US$20,000 in December and was down more than 40 percent so far this year.

The original cryptocurrency gained more than 1,300 percent last year.

Other digital currencies also rose after posting steep losses the last few weeks. Ethereum, the second-largest by market value, was up 10.7 percent over the past 24 hours at US$791.33, while the third-largest, Ripple, edged up nearly 6 percent at 76 U.S. cents, according to cryptocurrency tracker coinmarketcap.com.

The gains came amid a U.S. Senate hearing on virtual currencies in which J. Christopher Giancarlo, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Jay Clayton, chairman at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) testified. The Senate is examining the role of the SEC and CFTC in regulating virtual currencies.

U.S. regulators may ask Congress to pass legislation to improve oversight of virtual currencies like bitcoin amid concerns about the risks posed by the emerging asset class, Clayton said on Tuesday.

After a massive run-up last year, in which investors across the world piled into the market, cryptocurrency prices have skidded lower while regulators have stepped up warnings about the risk of investing in them.

Regulatory clampdowns in South Korea and India and an advertising ban by Facebook Inc have hit sentiment. Several banks said in recent days that they were banning customers from buying cryptocurrencies with credit cards.

Still, many cryptocurrency backers said regulation should be welcomed and short-term price volatility is to be expected for a new market.

“I think regulators need to learn how to interact with this technology and not stop this,” Bloq’s Roszak said.

“Whenever you see a government banning cryptocurrencies, a bank banning, I think in many ways, that’s them pulling the handbrakes up to better understand how to interact this technology,” he added.

Iqbal Gandham, managing director at trading platform eToro said his company had seen a drop in trading interest from investors in recent weeks amid the selloff, but that interest remained far higher than before the fourth quarter of last year.

The plunge has come during a heavy selloff in global stock markets in recent days, undermining views that bitcoin’s price moves are generally uncorrelated to those of other asset classes.

Source: Reuters

Getting ready for Tet in Vietnam

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Thursday is the Kitchen Gods’ Day.

Cleaned the house? Made the Kitchen Gods happy? Busy making cakes? Then you’re on the right track to a great Lunar New Year or Tet!

The cleaning is not just about starting the new year on the right foot. Apparently Vietnamese believe that luck clings to dirt and dust, so when Tet comes you are collecting the ‘new luck’ of the new year. It’s also why they don’t usually sweep the house during the first four days of the lunar year! It’s probably the best excuse I’ve ever heard of being lazy about housecleaning!

Have you got your Vietnamese phrase memorized yet? ‘Chuc Mung Nam Moi’ is roughly spoken like ‘Chook Muung Nam Mooi (‘oi’ sound)’. It doesn’t matter about what the gold and red banners are saying, it’s pretty obvious – mostly making wishes for the coming year.

Keep in mind that the actual holiday stretches out over 1 day before and about 3 to 5 days after the real date (the 16th of February) so lots of shops, banks, and importantly, visa offices will close earlier and re-open later. I often check with my local pubs and favorite shops about this so there are no nasty surprises.

People buy food in preparation for Tet in Ho Chi Minh City.

The nation is already on the move with many universities closing soon now and students on their way back to their hometowns. It is sometimes expensive too. Nha Trang University offered free bus travel to students whose families were affected by Typhoon Damrey, as just one example of many charitable efforts we’ll be hearing more about in the lead up to Tet.

Already charitable people and organizations have been busy carting up foodstuffs, cooking oil, warm clothes and toys to the rural poor. It’s heart-warming that Tet has some similar feelings to Christmas and helping others. And it doesn’t help that it’s been a very hard winter on top of the damage still being repaired after Damrey.

More customs you should consider; pay off your debts! Vietnamese believe this makes way for a more prosperous year to come. So don’t be surprised if you see people forking out moola even on Lunar New Year’s Eve, the 15th of February! So to all the jaded vile old expats who owe me millions (dong, of course), cough up!

The Tet schedule is busy. In the lunar calendar, December 23rd is Tet Tao Quan; Kitchen Gods’ Day – that’s when you’ll see the big tables outside homes with all the fruit and paper to burn. Between the 26th and 28th – it’s time to make cakes; those square packets wrapped in green leaves sold everywhere and given as gifts. Family reunion arrivals should be done by December 30th, Lunar New Year’s Eve and everyone heads off to the pagodas and temples to pray to the gods and ancestors. After LNYE it’s visiting time; generally parents, relatives, teachers and friends – in that order. If you’re planning to visit someone – check which day of Tet is most suitable.

New Year’s Tree is generally bought around the 26th (lunar date). Flowers and colors play a huge role in Vietnamese culture, in this case; about fertility, prosperity and getting most of what you want! I can’t speak for other parts of Vietnam but I have been told the extended cold weather has reduced the flower harvests this year. Yellow flowers also represent longevity.

Young Vietnamese women dress up for Tet, or Vietnam’s Lunar New Year.

Suitable gifts for locals are a big question on Facebook for many expats and tourists too. Lucky money for the kids is a must – put in however much you want to give in a red envelope – 2 dollars per munchkin is pretty good. For Westerners, most standard gifts are good: flowers, candy, maybe a good bottle of someone for dad and as at any time of the year, fruit!

Things to do: just take a walk. If the weather is good, it’s wonderfully relaxing to stroll around and check the neighbors’ fruit trees and decorations. When it’s hot, a lot of families leave the front doors open so you see dad sleeping in front of the telly, a left-over Christmas tree in the corner and the ladies chatting on the floor mat with kids giggling all over the place. The sense of community is charming and really will fill you with good cheer and a smile on your face.

And that’s it… Tet is about family and community – the powerful bond that has protected the Vietnamese for generations. It’s a time to slow down and treasure the really important things in life such as love, togetherness, companionship and that uniquely Vietnamese zest for life.

Chuc Mung Nam Moi! (Happy New Year!)

Source: Tuoitrenews

The SeABank’s CEO resigns

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Nguyen Canh Vinh stopped assuming the position of CEO of Southeast Asia Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SeABank) from February 8.

This was revealed in the bank’s announcement on the change of senior staff.

Le Van Tan, Deputy CEO of SeaBank will take charge till a new general director is appointed after Vinh’s termination. This is the second time in less than eight months Tan has been assigned the position of general director. When Dang Bao Khanh resigned as CEO of the bank, he had assumed the position on July 5, 2017.

Born in 1974, Vinh graduated from the National Economics University and the National University of Civil Engineering. He also holds a master’s degree from Australia’s Latrobe University. Vinh has 21 years of experience in finance, banking industry and has held many senior management positions, particularly in the retail sector.

Prior to his stint at SeABank, Vinh was deputy general director of Techcombank. Vinh took charge as the new general director of SeABank on September 25 last year.

Vietnamese Foods That Expats Don’t Understand

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“He says it’s good for your teeth, you should chew it!”

The translated advice from the elderly Vietnamese man seemed sage enough initially. I had just finished dinner and more than a few shots of rice wine at a colleague’s wedding in the outskirts of Hanoi, and with no Tic Tacs at hand, the betel leaves were my best shot at restoring my breath to its normally heavenly quality.

After chewing the green leaves for mere seconds, a scalding hot and bitter taste spread across my mouth, as if I’d been chewing on a nettle soaked in deep heat. I spat the horrible concoction out, to laughter all around. Chewing betel leaves and areca nuts has long been a Vietnamese tradition, but it’s safe to say I wasn’t about to trade in my Colgate for betel.

Cultural Clash
When cultures collide things like the betel incident are bound to happen, and there’s plenty about Vietnamese food culture that expats just don’t get, and other things that some simply don’t like. And that’s ok. Now, for those of you anger reading with the phrase “if you don’t like it go home” reverberating around your head, please take a breath, relax and stop chewing so hard on your betel leaves. It’s okay to question or be baffled by parts of other cultures. Doing so is just part of embracing our differences, as long as we do it in a respectful manner. So, without further ado, here are 600 words ragging on Vietnamese food.

Weird Meats
Perhaps the expats who know the most about Vietnamese food are those married to a local. Ollie Arci was the English groom at the aforementioned wedding and though he enjoys Vietnamese food, some of his wife Huyen’s favourite dishes don’t cut the mustard for this half-Italian stallion. For one, he told me while Huyen loves tucking into boiled chicken feet, he’s far from a fan of the slimy snack. He told me boiling them leaves the already ugly feet tough and chewy, and he pulled no punches on his feelings: “She loves the chicken feet, I hate the chicken feet.”

Bubble tea, while not uniquely Vietnamese, is another thing the couple disagree on. Ollie told me when he and Huyen were first dating they would often go out to one of Hanoi’s many bubble tea shops for sips of the lumpy broth, much to his confusion. Is it a drink, a sweet soup or dessert? Ollie’s biggest ‘what the food moment’ though, came when his future mother-in-law sent a package containing a raw pig’s womb to the couple. While the package contained roast duck and other treats, Ollie said Huyen was most excited about the womb, telling him it was an expensive cut of meat and a delicacy. The womb was, of course, boiled and served up soon after by Huyen. Ollie tried a few bites but was left underwhelmed at best:“It looked horrible. Like a pinky, white blob of flesh. It didn’t really taste of anything, just like eating an elastic band. Difficult to chew, difficult to swallow, why would you eat it?”

Boiling Over
The ubiquity of boiled food also confuses Jennifer Price to no end. The American has been living in Hanoi for more than three years by now, and in almost foreigner-free Dong Da District to boot, so she knows her com rang from her com trang.

Boiled chicken is often cited by foreigners as a strange way the Vietnamese enjoy one of the world’s favourite meats, and Jennifer is no exception. She pointed out to me that Vietnam does spectacular roast duck, with the crispy, tasty birds a hit with any meat lover. So why doesn’t chicken get the same treatment?

Vietnam also has something of a love affair with fruit, and while Jen appreciates this, she told me it frustrates her that fruit is often not ripe. Jennifer explained green fruit is definitely a no go for her: “Why would you serve green plums?”

With Tet holiday fast approaching Jennifer also mentioned chung cake as a local delicacy she hasn’t got on board with. The traditional dish is made of glutinous rice, pork, mung beans and various spices all packed into a square.
Jennifer told me she was a fan of chung cake’s presentation, with the mixture wrapped in green leaves, but the taste left something to be desired: “They look like they should taste good, but they don’t.”

Lost in the Sauce
Daisy Flynn-Piercy, an English expat who has called Hanoi home for three years, would disagree with Jennifer on chung cake. Daisy told me she enjoys the traditional delicacy when she eats it on trips to her partner Duyen’s hometown, but only when it’s fried. She noted that one of Duyen’s aunts regularly comes to family meals with fried chung cake, perhaps explaining why she’s one of the more portly family members. For the most part, Daisy struggled to think of any particular Vietnamese dish she wasn’t a fan of, only able to come up with tiet ga (a kind of blood pudding) and durian as food she couldn’t stomach. She did, however, say she finds a lot of Vietnamese food bland before some sauce is applied to the dish, specifically fish sauce. She told me the simple and popular condiment adds something to almost everything she eats: “You have to have fish sauce”.

Food for Thought
Overall, it seemed the practice of boiling just about everything in Vietnam was the thing that vexed the expats I spoke to the most, unsurprisingly. What did surprise me was what Duyen told me when I asked what she found strangest about British food when she visited England a year ago. She told me she found it strange and a bit sad that corner shop meal deals consisting of sandwiches, a drink and some crisps were a staple of lunch food for British office workers.

“I look forward to going out for lunch with my colleagues and eating together, not alone,” she explained, a salient point considering the UK has just appointed a minister of loneliness.

The Greek philosopher Epicurus taught that who you ate with was much more important than what you ate, and eating alone should be avoided. On your next lunch break you could do worse than going out to eat with some Vietnamese colleagues, even if they are sitting down for a feast of chicken feet.

By: Peter Cowan – Peter is a Northern Irishman who washed up in Hanoi, discovered he couldn’t teach and hasn’t looked back since. He enjoys long walks through rice paddies and is still learning how to dress himself properly.

Source: hottable.asia

Eximbank’s profit up 160% in 2017

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Việt Nam’s Export Import Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Eximbank) posted a pre-tax profit of VNĐ1.017 trillion (US$44.6 million) last year.

This marked a year-on-year increase of 160.5 per cent and exceeded the yearly target by 70 per cent.

The growth in Eximbank’s profit in 2017 is not attributed to its core business activities but to mainly irregular income from divestment and bad debt settlement.

Eximbank sold Sacombank’s shares in December 2017 and earned a portion of the profit, amounting to VNĐ126 billion. Bad debt recovered in the fourth quarter of 2017 brought some VNĐ400 billion profit for the bank.

From the beginning of 2017 to the end of June, credit increased by 3.3 per cent, while for the second half of the year, credit increased by 13.32 per cent. Credit growth mainly came from short-term loans worth VNĐ46.67 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 37.32 per cent. Medium and long-term loans increased only 3.35 per cent to reach VNĐ54.64 trillion.

Meanwhile, mobilised capital increased by 14.84 per cent to VNĐ117.53 trillion. In particular, term deposits increased 15.6 per cent to VNĐ110.43 trillion, accounting for 85.45 per cent of the total mobilised capital.

Operating expenses fell slightly by 2.18 per cent compared to 2016 with nearly VNĐ2.21 trillion due to a staff drop of 3.03 per cent to some 6,021 employees. Eximbank did not open any new branches or transaction offices throughout 2017.

The ratio of non-performing loans (NPLs) dropped to 2.27 per cent from 2.95 per cent in 2016. NPLs balance also fell by VNĐ261 billion to approximately VNĐ2.3 trillion.

Source: — VNS

Vietnam’s Vingroup takes trip into unknown with first ‘national car’

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Conglomerate faces risks as it extends consumer businesses into automaking.

On an island off northern Vietnam, the conglomerate Vingroup is moving earth, raising girders, and working round the clock to build the most ambitious industrial project in the communist-ruled country’s history: a factory complex that, within two years, will make the first Vietnamese “national car”.

Vinfast, as Vingroup’s new car brand is called, will begin producing electric motorbikes at a factory on the site, near the port city of Haiphong, later this year, then next year a saloon and a sport utility vehicle. Design sketches for the two cars, which will be unveiled at the Paris car show in October, show sleek and sporty models, each with a “V” emblazoned on their grilles.

At the manufacturing site on Cat Hai island, a circular, glassy headquarters and research and development building is already in place, and the scooter plant is rising behind it. The project, on which Vingroup is spending $1.5bn in its initial phase, is so large that it has called in all the companies that supply pilings from northern Vietnam, and some from the south too.

However, the shift into carmaking will be a trip into the unknown both for the conglomerate and for Vietnam’s manufacturing-driven economy, analogous to the moment in the 1970s when the South Korean chaebol Hyundai, today a top producer, developed its first cars.

For Vingroup, it could prove a risky move: carmaking is an intensely competitive, low-margin global industry in which other producers who sought to hoist the national flag with a locally made vehicle — including Proton in nearby Malaysia — have struggled.

The Vietnamese group is leaning heavily on foreign expertise and suppliers to smooth its launch into cars, but some of China’s myriad fledgling producers have done the same and failed to build sustainable businesses.

Vietnamese consumers, who rely largely on two-wheeled transport, bought fewer than 250,000 cars last year, about a quarter of the number sold in bigger, richer Indonesia, where officials and businesspeople have also mooted — but until now resisted developing — a “national car”.

It will be new territory too for Vingroup. The conglomerate is Vietnam’s biggest real estate company, produces food, runs retail stores, operates schools and universities, and is building Indochina’s tallest building in Ho Chi Minh City.

However, for Vingroup executives, the move into cars is the next logical step for a company set on serving every need of Vietnam’s growing middle and affluent class.

“The concept is from the cradle to the grave,” Le Thi Thu Thuy, the senior group executive overseeing the Vinfast project, told the Financial Times. “The group wants to cater to every part of the consumer’s life in Vietnam, and giving the consumer a better life.”

The car project is clearly a point of pride for a country where patriotic feeling runs high, and which is striving to shift its foreign-dominated manufacturing sector into higher value-added areas.

“When you talk to people here, a lot were pulled in by the rallying cry of doing a car for the people,” says Jim DeLuca, the veteran General Motors executive Vinfast has recruited as chief executive. “It’s bigger than Vingroup, it’s bigger than us — this is for the people.”

Vingroup broke ground on its factory complex on September 2, Vietnam’s national holiday marking the date when the country declared independence from France in 1945.

“There’s a saying that every proper country needs five things: a flag, a national anthem, an army, an airline, and a car company,” says Robin Zhu, senior analyst for Asian autos at Bernstein.

Other countries in the region will be watching. Thailand, home to Southeast Asia’s biggest car industry, produces nearly 2m vehicles and has capacity to make 1m more. However, the producers — led by Toyota, Isuzu, and Honda — are foreign, and about half of what the industry makes goes to export.

Vietnam has one major car, truck and bus manufacturer, Truong Hai Automobile Co (Thaco), but it produces for foreign brands.

Vingroup’s Ms Thuy says the Vinfast project’s initial phase will cost $1.5bn, out of a total planned investment of $3bn-$3.5bn. Initially, Vinfast plans to install capacity to produce up to 300,000 electric scooters and 250,000 cars per year, but executives have spoken of increasing this to as many as 1m scooters and 500,000 cars annually by 2025 — an ambitious figure for a market of Vietnam’s size.

“I think they will have to produce for another brand to maintain their capacity,” said Titikorn Lertsirirungsun, regional manager for Asean countries at LMC Automotive in Bangkok.

Vingroup counters scepticism over its prospects of building a viable car brand from scratch by saying it has brought in expertise and executives from some of the industry’s top names.

In addition to Mr DeLuca, who headed global manufacturing at GM, Vinfast has also recruited as its head of purchasing an executive from Bosch, the German supply giant, and a head of manufacturing from Holden, the recently discontinued GM brand in Australia.

BMW, the German carmaker, is licensing a production platform and engine for the two forthcoming models, and contract manufacturer Magna Steyr is acting as a consultant to Vingroup on vehicle technology.

Vingroup commissioned design sketches for its two vehicles from four top design houses, and selected Italy’s Pininfarina to develop styling for the forthcoming models. The company says it will launch the two cars in the third quarter of 2019.

The company is not discussing prices, but Ms Thuy says the vehicles will be “affordable for the Vietnamese”. She says: “We are making cars for the mass market, so the pricing will be competitive.”

By : John Reed

Source: Financial Times

Bitcoin Not Giving a Big Enough Hit as ‘Gateway Drug’

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In the fast-paced development of cryptocurrency community, Bitcoin is not enough to hold the attention of this vastly diverse community. So, while it may be the ideal coin to get people hooked on cryptocurrencies, once they are in and settled, there is time to seek out a multitude of other coins that are better suited to their needs or beliefs.

The draw of big growth

Bitcoin’s biggest draw was the incredible returns it was offering as it rallied from 2,000 percent in 12 months. This phenomenal growth continued to increase interest in the currency, and that sparked even further growth in this massive hype cycle. It has been correlated before that searches for on Google for Bitcoin are closely related to its growth – a phenomenon known as the “Satoshi Cycle”. In the lead up to December’s high, the Satoshi Cycle was in full effect as Google trends showed some interesting figures.

Nicholas Colas, a pioneering Bitcoin analyst in the world of traditional investments, has taken this correlation very seriously and states that it plays a big part in his predictions. “Going into December, [searches] skyrocketed,” Colas said on CNBC’s Fast Money. He added that the total number of Bitcoin Google searches worldwide tripled that month: “You saw that correlates to the total increased number of wallet growth, which doubled in December from approximately 5 percent to 10 percent as Bitcoin rallied.”

Already hooked

However, taking this metric into consideration, it could be argued that the new wave of adopters are now starting to disperse and find their way to other coins that are more suited to their individual needs. It makes sense that as people become educated and learn more about options in the crypto community that they begin to diversify and pick out their favorite coins to invest in. This often leads to money moving away from Bitcoin and into Altcoins.

Bitcoin, being the dominant, most adopted and scene-leading coin, will continue to be the ‘gateway drug’ of the community, but it is finding it harder to hang on to total support and dominance.

These sentiments are expressed by Colas, who adds: “Bitcoin is considered the gateway drug to all cryptos and it has acted exactly that way. Right now [the Google search data] is telling me there’s not really that next leg up in Bitcoin because there’s not that interest that leads to wallet growth that leads to price appreciation.”

Proof?

Colas tries to justify this position by explaining how Ethereum has been the only coin that has fared relatively well in the top echelons of the CoinMarket Cap:”Some of the movement in Ethereum, which has traded much better [in January], is just money which is being pulled out of Bitcoin.”

However, it is important to note that Bitcoin’s price fluctuations and movements are still heavily linked to all other coins. The saying that: “the tide moves all boats’ is still true in the cryptocurrency market with Bitcoin essentially being the tide. When Bitcoin is up, most coins follow, and when it is down, the same red graphs appear to follow suit across the board”.

Source: Cointelegraph

Vietnam’s economy classed as ‘mostly unfree’ by global survey

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The country has been advised to continue reforms, reduce red tape and increase transparency.

Vietnam’s economic freedom currently stands well below global and regional averages, according to a new survey.

The country has been ranked 141st on the 2018 Economic Freedom Index compiled by the Heritage Foundation, an American conservative public policy think tank based in Washington, D.C.

Its overall score of 53.1 is up 0.7 point from last year, thanks to improvements in fiscal health, government integrity and judicial effectiveness. But trade freedom, property rights and labor freedom are still inhibited, according to the survey.

Vietnam finished 35th out of 43 countries in Asia Pacific, below China and its smaller neighbors Cambodia and Laos.

The U.S. foundation said that Vietnam could improve its economic environment by continuing to reform state-owned enterprises, reducing red tape, increasing transparency in the business and financial sectors, reducing bad debt in the banking sector and increasing recognition of private property rights.

“Corruption and nepotism are rife,” it said, emphasizing that the problems are more common in public firms subsidized by the government.

Vietnam seems to be on the right track after pushing ahead with various IPOs of state-owned firms in recent years. The country has also imprisoned scores of corrupt members of the public oil giant PetroVietnam, including once powerful officials.

Vietnam’s economy expanded 6.81 percent last year, its fastest growth in a decade and among the fastest in the world.

Although its score has been interpreted as “mostly unfree”, the economy is among 102 that improved this year. Another 75 declined and three remained unchanged.

The world average score of 61.1, the highest recorded in the 24-year history of the index, classes the global economy as “moderately free”.

Only six economies are classed as “free” by earning scores of 80 or above. Hong Kong and Singapore finished first and second in the rankings for the 24th consecutive year, followed by New Zealand, Switzerland, Australia and Ireland.

The number of economically “unfree” economies stands at 63, while 21 are considered “repressed”.

The world’s biggest economy, the United States, ranks 18th globally, while China is far behind in 110th.

Source: Vi Vu

You won’t believe the story behind this 72-yr-old man’s tattoo

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Every tattoo is a story, and this one might leave you in tears. At the age of 72, a man with memory loss in Ho Chi Minh City has just got a tattoo of his home address and daughter’s phone number so he can wander around without losing his way home.

The touching story was shared by Bui Van Quan, a tattoo artist in District 2, who said he had never met such a peculiar customer in his career.

“He likes to wander around a lot, but would often forget his way home due to an age-related memory loss,” Quan said.

“His daughter had tried different ways to have him wear a tag with contact details on it, but they didn’t work.”

The 21-year-old tattoo artists recalled being reluctant at first, as he didn’t know whether the elderly man would be able to put up with the pain of getting a tattoo.

“But when I arrived at their house for the procedure, he seemed happy about the decision. He told me stories about his youth, which was remarkable considering his memory problem,” Quan recalled.

According to the artist, the old man’s daughter had been rejected by many tattoo shops before she finally found one that agreed to perform the task.

The session only lasted for two hours, but it taught Quan many lessons about familial love and filial piety, he said.

Quan has been working as a professional tattoo artist for three years since graduating from high school, and his motto is to put all of his passion into his work and the best outcome will ensue.

“I don’t think a person should be judged by their tattoo. I’m not saying we should all get a tattoo, but let’s not see it as anything more than an accessory,” Quan said.

Tattoo artist Bui Van Quan (R) and his 72-year-old customer. Courtesy of Quan

Source: Tuan Son

Vietnam fears effects of US tax bill on foreign investment

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Tax reform passed by the US Congress at the end of last year may affect Vietnam’s economy as US investors are likely to send their investment back home, where the corporate income tax (CIT) rate has been slashed, Vietnamese economic experts have warned.

The sweeping tax reforms, signed into law by President Donald Trump on December 22, include reductions in the CIT rate from 35 per cent to 21 per cent and a minimum of 10.5 per cent rate on any foreign profits US companies send home.

The tax overhaul should encourage corporations to relocate or build new operations in the US instead of overseas, where the CIT rate is often lower.

The US Government also hopes that US companies will repatriate their foreign cash piles given the attractive 10.5 per cent tax rate.

Countries where US companies are doing business, including Vietnam, see those benefits as challenges for their respective economies, members of an economic advisory panel to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said in a recent report.

“US companies will transfer profits generated from operations in Vietnam back home rather than keeping the money here for re-investment,” said Mr. Vu Viet Ngoan, Head of the panel. “Vietnam’s economy will be impacted if many US corporations follow this trend.”
But the bigger concern comes from neighboring economies, not the US tax bill itself, Mr. Ngoan noted.

Many countries, including China, have begun to offer new tax incentives to keep US investors, “a trend Vietnam should keep a close eye on,” he said.

According to the advisory panel, China has “taken timely action” by offering tax exemptions for US companies if they retain their investment in the country, while at the same time enacting new measures for those who want to repatriate their investment.

“Vietnam should keep watching developments in China to be able to respond timely, even though there are still not many US investors here,” Mr. Ngoan said.

Upon receiving the report from the advisory panel, Mr. Tran Dinh Chieu, Member of the National Assembly’s Finance and Budget Committee, said Vietnam should pay due attention to the warnings.

“The problem should be taken into serious consideration despite Vietnam’s CIT rate being lower than in the US, at 20 per cent and as low as 10 per cent for foreign businesses eligible for preferential treatment,” Mr. Chieu said, advising the government to review the country’s tax policies and try to reduce “unofficial fees” and petty corruption to retain foreign investors.

Earlier, Prime Minister Phuc asked ministries and relevant sectors to study the effects of the US tax reforms on Vietnam. He has also assigned the Ministry of Industry and Trade to coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors to monitor policy responses of countries around the world, to assess the impacts on Vietnam and help it respond appropriately and in a timely manner.

“It is necessary to review the products Vietnam exported to the US, especially those with of raw materials and components imported from China, in order to provide warnings and guide enterprises when the US imposes anti-dumping duties on these products,” the Prime Minister said.

Source: VN Economic Times

Vietnamese underground: An incomplete list of independent music artists

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From post-punk to electronica, check out some homegrown alt music artists you might not have heard of.

28-year-old Trang ‘Chuoi’ Le, often known as Chuoi, has been part of Hanoi’s indie music scene for a decade. She used to play the guitar for post-punk band Go Lim before moving on to be a bassist at hardcore band MXM.

Chuoi is self-taught, as are many independent Vietnamese artists who got into music purely out of passion. Hanoi in the early 2000s was all about rock, Chuoi said. “We were heavily influenced by Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Led Zeppelin and Linkin Park.”

“In those days, kids were not really encouraged to study music as you wouldn’t make money off music,” she added. “Underground music was not really supported, it was mainly DIY and did not have a large following.”

Vietnamese audiences today are more open to experimental music, as proved by the success of many underground artists. Some genres like EDM and indie pop, for example, have been well-received by young fans.

Yet for Chuoi and many fellow artists, indie gigs still struggle to sell, and financial pressure remains among their biggest concerns despite the rise of a number of record labels that back indie bands and musicians such as Piu Piu, Develhopes and First and Last. But within the small underground music community, there is a lot of mutual support, Chuoi said.

In 2014, together with Sebastian Urinovsky and Jorn Wind, two expat musicians living in Vietnam, Chuoi co-founded Hanoi Rec Room.

The initial idea, in Sebastian’s words, was to offer services and a platform for young, talented and unconventional underground musicians to come and perform. For over three years, Rec Room was the place to be for young Hanoians. Sitting on the roof of Hanoi Creative City, it was an ideal location for the young artists to play live music, until it was shut down last year.

The platform has not died, however, as the co-founders hope to continue supporting Hanoi’s homegrown underground scene by building a record label of their own.

In honor of Hanoi’s small and independent alt music community, Chuoi helped come up with a list of her favorite indie bands and musicians, some of whom may be new to you.

So here is the list, in no particular order.

1. Ngọt

Ngot are a success story among Vietnam’s underground bands, Chuoi said. Their last show in Hanoi in September sold out within two days to 3,000 fans. The indie pop band, which consists of vocalist-guitarist Vu Dinh Trong Thang, drummer Nguyen Hung Nam Anh, guitarist Nguyen Chi Hung and bassist Phan Viet Hoang, was founded in 2013. They have held shows in Hanoi, Da Nang and Saigon, and their albums sell. “I think in many ways, indie pop bands in Vietnam have their own personalities in terms of music,” Chuoi added. “When we held Ngot’s shows in Rec Room, we saw so many unfamiliar faces, which personally for me was refreshing.”

2. Rắn cạp đuôi Collective

Ran Cap Duoi are an experimental band founded in Ho Chi Minh City. The five members originate from different parts of the world, and play on and off during shows. They have a history of playing in very odd places, from the studio at the Vietnam National Institute of Culture and Arts Studies, the prestigious Salon Saigon, to a tiny CD shop in an old apartment complex. More importantly, perhaps, they are mostly young, rebellious (to an acceptable extent) and very talented people with great taste in music.

3. Empty spaces

Empty Spaces take their influences from Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie. The band name calls to mind Pink Floyd’s iconic eponymous song, which is no surprise, as for Chuoi “their music smells like a mix of Pink Floyd and contemporary Vietnamese folk music”. The band, founded in 2014, has five members: Cuong Le (vocalist/guitarist), Le Minh Thuan (bassist), Nguyen Tien Hiep (keyboardist), Hieu Nguyen (drummer) and Nguyen Quoc Hung (guitarist/vocalist). They have played several shows in Hanoi, and released their debut CD, “Tien Hoa”, two years ago.

4. COCC

COCC are a product of Saigon. The three members who play multiple instruments are still fairly low-key within the community. On their Facebook page, they say the band started out by covering tunes by Smashing Pumpkins, Tool and the Beatles, to recording songs with their own laptops and setting up a recording studio at home. Their songs are about the living low in big cities, from the beggars, the scrap dealers and the cyclo drivers, to the abandoned kids. A major Pink Floyd influence as well.

5. Windrunner

Windrunner play metalcore, and are one of the few hardcore bands in which Chuoi can see “female energy”. The band have played gigs in Hanoi, Saigon, Phnom Penh and South Korea, receiving recognition abroad within the international underground rock community. They have a female lead vocalist, two guitarists, a bassist and a drummer.

6. Gat tan day

One of the rock band’s major hit songs is “Dam cuoi chuot” or “The rat’s wedding”, which was released in 2006. Gat Tan Day became legendary in the early 90s as students with various covers of songs by the Beatles, Deep Purple, CCR and the Rolling Stones. Gat Tan Day’s emergence on the rock scene was phenomenal, and the band became well-known in Vietnam. The band previously said in interviews that music was their passion, not career, which might explain why they have been quiet over the past decade, as its members pursued different jobs away from music.

7. Go Lim

Go Lim were short-lived but remain a much loved band in Hanoi’s underground scene. Despite disbanding in 2012 after just a year, their tracks emerge from time to time to the reminiscence of their devoted and loyal fanbase. Go Lim were important to Vietnam’s indie community, their songs defying gender and politics and transcending time, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that hardly any punk band can overshadow them in terms of both music and coolness.

Aside from the above list, here are a few more indie bands/musicians that could change your perceptions of Vietnamese underground music.

In no particular order: An Nam Co Nguyet, (rock), Thiss.Hard (beatbox trio), Small Fire (nu-metal), Wowy (rap), Hazard Clique (rap), The Children (rock), Ca Hoi Hoang (indie pop), Quan (electronics), Proportions (heavy metal), Hub collective (indie pop), D hustle (hip hop), DSK (rap), The Veranda (experimental).

Source: Bao Yen