HANOI, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Banks in Vietnam have rushed to raise funds this year, with many issuing stocks or offering stakes to strategic partners as the size of their loans and deposits is determined by registered capital, Vietnam News reported on Monday.

The country's top four lenders, state-run Agribank along with three partly privatized lender Bank for Investment & Development of Vietnam (BIDV), Vietcombank and Vietinbank, are rushing the head of the line of banks looking to raise registered capital this year.

BIDV, Vietnam's largest partly privatized lender by assets, is set to raise its registered capital by 21 percent to 61.2 trillion Vietnamese dong (2.6 billion U.S. dollars) this year via dividend payments and a share issue.

Hanoi-based BIDV would distribute 6.07 trillion dong (257 million dollars) of shares to existing shareholders as dividends and sell 4.55 trillion dong (192.5 million dollars) through either private placement or public offering.

Vietcombank, the largest lender by market value, got in line too, saying that it plans to sell a maximum of 2.77 billion shares over the years of 2023-2024 to raise its registered capital by 58.5 percent to 75 trillion dong (3.2 billion dollars).

Vietinbank, or Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade, is about to raise its registered capital by 37.3 percent to 66 trillion dong (2.8 billion dollars) via dividend payments.

Meanwhile, the government would fund 17.1 trillion dong (723 million dollars) to the capital boost of state-run Agribank by 50 percent to 51.5 trillion dong (2.2 billion dollars).

Despite the fact that the current bearish stock market has made it tougher for Vietnamese lenders to meet their targets, other smaller commercial banks have announced plans to raise registered capital by trillions of dong.

VPBank, or Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank, sold a 15-percent stake for 1.5 billion dollars to Japanese financial group Sumitomo Mitsui in March in an attempt to raise its capital by 17.7 percent to 3.4 billion dollars.

The central bank has consistently told banks to raise their registered capital as part of a strategy to strengthen the banking system.

Larger minimum risk-based capital requirements would give lenders more flexibility to cope with difficulties and expand lending and other essential banking services, said experts. Enditem

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