State Bank: Difficult to control cross-ownership when shareholders deliberately conceal

According to the State Bank's report sent to the National Assembly before the 9th Session, the situation of shareholders and related persons of a commercial bank owning more than 5% of shares in other credit institutions has decreased significantly, only occurring in corporations and state-owned enterprises.

The State Bank believes that it is necessary to continue directing handling to focus capital on core business activities and use capital more effectively.

According to the operator, cross-ownership between credit institutions and between credit institutions and enterprises mainly arose before the Law on Credit Institutions 2010 took effect and is now being gradually resolved.

After the law was amended and supplemented in 2024 with stricter regulations on share ownership, credit institutions are continuing to build a roadmap to ensure compliance with regulations.

It is difficult to control cross-ownership in banks because shareholders deliberately conceal it (Photo: Manh Quan).

However, in detecting, preventing and handling cross-ownership and ownership of manipulative and dominant nature in credit institutions, the State Bank also encounters some difficulties and obstacles.

In particular, the State Bank said that cross-ownership control is very difficult in cases where shareholders and related persons intentionally conceal or ask other individuals or organizations to stand in their names for the number of shares owned to circumvent regulations.

"This leads to potential risks of credit institutions' operations lacking transparency and openness. This behavior can only be detected and identified through investigation and verification by investigative agencies in accordance with the provisions of law," the State Bank stated.

In addition, the State Bank is not proactive in looking up information to determine the ownership relationship of enterprises, especially enterprises that are not public companies, as well as the accuracy and reliability of information sources, in the context of the rapidly developing stock market and technology as it is today.

According to the State Bank, cross-ownership may involve many entities under the management of ministries and branches. "Currently, there is still a situation of excessive ownership of shares in commercial banks which are state-owned enterprises with a fairly large ownership ratio, and banks have difficulty in requesting these shareholders to divest capital," the State Bank reported.

The State Bank said it will continue to monitor the safety of credit institutions' operations. Through inspections of capital, share ownership, lending, investment, and capital contribution activities, if risks or violations are detected, the State Bank will direct the handling of existing problems to prevent risks.

The State Bank affirmed that it will continue to conduct inspections as planned, or conduct surprise inspections if necessary, paying attention to the contents of share ownership ratio; buying and selling, transferring bank shares, granting credit to large customers/groups of customers (lending, investing in corporate bonds)...

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/kinh-doanh/ngan-hang-nha-nuoc-kho-kiem-soat-so-huu-cheo-khi-co-dong-co-tinh-che-giau-20250507160204032.htm