The picture of Eximbank ahead of the extraordinary shareholders' meeting.

Looking back over the past 10 years, Eximbank is most often mentioned not for what it has delivered to investors or its business results, but for the ongoing and unresolved conflicts at the top.

The contributions of major shareholders to Eximbank are undeniable, especially Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), which invested $225 million in 2007 to acquire a 15% stake in Eximbank. The arrival of this leading Japanese financial group helped Eximbank quickly rise to the top group of private joint-stock commercial banks in terms of profitability during the 2010-2011 period.

However, a strong brand like Eximbank quickly weakened after rifts within the Board of Directors, leading to the bank missing out on restructuring and falling further behind competitors in every aspect, causing distress to small shareholders and customers alike.

After Mr. Le Hung Dung stepped down from the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors in 2015, Eximbank continuously changed its chairman. Each change of chairman of the Board of Directors was followed by an uncompromising battle between shareholder groups.

The high-level personnel changes since Mr. Le Minh Quoc took the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors for the 2015-2020 term have dragged on for many years without resolution, due to the major shareholders' inability to reach a consensus.

In 2016, Eximbank was unable to hold its annual general meeting of shareholders due to a disagreement over whether the number of board members should be 9 or 11.

The failure of the General Shareholders' Meeting to proceed as planned was primarily due to the refusal of the two major shareholder groups, Ms. Nguyen Thi Xuan Loan (representing Nam A Bank) and Mr. Pham Huu Phuong, who together hold more than 20% of the shares. This incident prompted the State Bank of Vietnam to request a review of certain information regarding the candidates nominated for the new Board of Directors.

2019 was the peak year for the struggle for the bank chairmanship, or more accurately, the power struggle between major shareholder groups.

Specifically, on March 22, 2019, the Board of Directors of Eximbank issued Resolution 112 electing Ms. Luong Thi Cam Tu as Chairwoman of the Board of Directors and dismissing Mr. Le Minh Quoc from his position. However, Mr. Le Minh Quoc filed a lawsuit against the members of the Board of Directors, requesting the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court to apply an urgent interim measure.

The Ho Chi Minh City People's Court initially approved the resolution, but then overturned it in May 2019. Ms. Luong Thi Cam Tu continued to be the Chairwoman of Eximbank according to Resolution 112. However, just one day later, on May 15, 2019, Mr. Le Minh Quoc signed Resolution 231, terminating the validity of Resolution 112 that elected Ms. Tu as Chairwoman of the Board of Directors.

He subsequently resigned, and Mr. Cao Xuan Ninh became Chairman of the Board of Directors of Eximbank from May 22, 2019.

More than a month later, Mr. Ninh resigned again, citing the long-standing conflicts between shareholder groups and Eximbank shareholders that could not be resolved.

Mr. Yasuhiro Saitoh replaced Mr. Cao Xuan Ninh. Previously, in 2015, SMBC itself nominated Mr. Yasuhiro Saitoh to join the Board of Directors, but in May 2019, SMBC sent a notice to Eximbank confirming that, as of May 18, 2019, Mr. Yasuhiro Saitoh was no longer a representative of SMBC.

The power struggles here seem endless. Ahead of the 2021 annual general meeting, Eximbank surprised everyone by unexpectedly issuing two resolutions in one day to dismiss the Chairman of the Board of Directors, only to then immediately re-elect the same person. Surprisingly, these two contradictory resolutions were based on the voting results at the Board of Directors meeting and were only 25 minutes apart.

In 2022, two days after the 2021 annual general meeting (which had been postponed due to Covid-19 and disagreements), Eximbank elected Ms. Luong Thi Cam Tu as Chairwoman of the Board of Directors for the seventh term (2020-2025), replacing Mr. Yasuhiro Saitoh. Immediately afterward, the Board of Directors faced pressure to explain to shareholders the transfer of STB shares below the minimum price of VND 13,000 per share, which resulted in a reduction of Eximbank's income.

Eximbank holds the record for the most changes in the Chairman of the Board of Directors and the most cancellations/postponements of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders over the past 10 years.

Among them, some chairmen held the hot seat for less than half an hour, while others stayed in the hot seat for 5 days.

The lack of stability and unity within the Board of Directors has caused the bank to suffer significant losses by missing many opportunities for growth, and has also harmed minority shareholders who have not received dividends for many years.

Instability has hampered Eximbank's development for many years, disproportionate to the potential the bank possesses. What shareholders are hoping for is stability from the top management and groundbreaking development strategies, which could be implemented as early as the bank's extraordinary general meeting on November 28th.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/buc-tranh-eximbank-truc-them-dai-hoi-co-dong-bat-thuong-2345566.html