Eximbank's chaotic decade: 9 times changing chairman

Vietnam Export Import Commercial Bank (Eximbank, stock code: EIB) was established on May 24, 1989 and officially commenced operations in January 1990. At that time, Eximbank was one of the first joint-stock commercial banks in Vietnam.

This name has also been associated with top-level disputes for the past decade. Deep divisions among shareholder groups have repeatedly prevented the bank from successfully holding general meetings to elect its Board of Directors.

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) became a strategic shareholder of Eximbank in 2007, after investing $225 million to acquire 15% of the bank's shares. This was a "bargain" for SMBC, as each Eximbank share cost only 20,150 VND, equivalent to 30% of the market price at that time.

A leading Japanese financial group once considered it "one of Vietnam's top commercial banks." In fact, Eximbank also joined the trillion-dong profit club of the banking system, with profits exceeding 4,000 billion dong in 2011.

After SMBC became part of Eximbank's inner circle, the "king" bank's stock plummeted. However, the Japanese bank was still comforted by the large dividend payout ratio that Eximbank offered to its shareholders.

In its first year, Eximbank paid dividends of up to 82.55%, including 12% in cash and 70.55% in shares. Thus, SMBC received nearly 230 billion VND in cash and over 133 million shares, equivalent to approximately 3,600 billion VND.

Four years later, although not maintaining the high rate of 2008, Eximbank still kept dividends at a relatively high level, at 12% (2009), 13.5% (2010), 19.3% (2011) and 13.5% (2012) respectively.

2013 was a pivotal year when Eximbank's dividend payout ratio plummeted to just 4%. But the real trouble began here as the bank's profits also started to decline. In 2015, the business situation worsened even further.

10 years: 9 changes of chairman

The turmoil began when former Chairman of the Board Le Hung Dung stepped down. On behalf of the Board of Directors, Mr. Dung apologized to shareholders for the disappointing business results. He himself resigned and did not seek re-election for another term.

With Mr. Dung stepping down, every group of shareholders wanted a seat on the Board of Directors and the Supervisory Board, so the bank had to postpone the Annual General Meeting multiple times.

After two unsuccessful attempts to hold the election, Eximbank finally finalized its personnel at an extraordinary shareholders' meeting in mid-December 2015. Mr. Le Minh Quoc was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors.

By early April 2016, several senior leaders at Eximbank unexpectedly resigned, reigniting the "power struggle." Because the main shareholder groups could not reach a consensus, the 2016 annual general meeting was repeatedly canceled, along with a demand to replace the incumbent board of directors.

After two stable years in 2017 and 2018, internal conflicts within Eximbank erupted again in early 2019. At that time, Ms. Luong Thi Cam Tu, a former General Director of Nam A Bank, was elected as the new Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the bank for the term 2015-2020.

The decision, still fresh in people's minds, sparked controversy as Mr. Le Minh Quoc, the dismissed Chairman of the Board of Directors, claimed the meeting was conducted in violation of regulations.

Subsequently, Eximbank issued a statement denying Mr. Le Minh Quoc's allegations and affirming that the Eximbank Board of Directors' meeting on March 22nd to appoint Ms. Luong Thi Cam Tu was in accordance with the provisions of the Enterprise Law and Eximbank's charter.

In May 2019, Mr. Le Minh Quoc withdrew his lawsuit and resigned from his position as Chairman of the Board of Directors. He was then replaced by Mr. Cao Xuan Ninh. Prior to joining the Eximbank Board of Directors, Mr. Cao Xuan Ninh was the Head of the State Bank of Vietnam's representative office in Ho Chi Minh City and had many years of experience working at Vietcombank .

Eximbank's annual general meeting that year was rocked by heated debates between shareholder groups regarding the legality of the resolution electing the Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Ninh asserted that his position as Chairman of the Board of Directors at the bank was legitimate, while SMBC argued that the high-level personnel conflict showed a lack of shareholder confidence in Mr. Ninh and therefore requested a re-election.

And just one year later, in June 2020, Eximbank announced its new Chairman, Mr. Yasuhiro Saitoh, who had previously served as the bank's Vice Chairman. This also marked the first time Eximbank had a foreigner as its Chairman of the Board of Directors. He was formerly the representative of the strategic shareholder SMBC, which held 15% of the bank's capital.

On April 13, 2021, turmoil arose again ahead of EximBank's third annual general meeting of shareholders in 2020, as the bank's Board of Directors repeatedly passed confusing resolutions, changing the "hot seat" three times, from Mr. Yasuhiro Saitoh to Mr. Nguyen Quang Thong and back to Yasuhiro Saitoh. This was a "whirlwind" of chairmanship, a record for the number of changes in the top position of a bank.

In July 2021, Eximbank's extraordinary general meeting proposed the dismissal of several personnel. The proposal came from a group of shareholders including Rong Ngoc Joint Stock Company, Helios Investment and Services Joint Stock Company, Thang Phuong Joint Stock Company, Ms. Thai Thi My Sang, and Ms. Luu Nhu Tran. At that time, this group of shareholders held 10.36% of the total voting common shares in Eximbank for a continuous period of at least six months.

Also at this event, Ms. Luong Thi Cam Tu was re-elected as Chairman of Eximbank. Among the members of the Board of Directors, two notable members are Mr. Dao Phong Truc Dai and Ms. Le Hong Anh, both associated with Thanh Cong Group , a diversified business operating in the automotive, real estate, and trade sectors.

Mr. Dao Phong Truc Dai (far left), one of the two representatives of the Thanh Cong group elected to the Eximbank Board of Directors in February this year (Photo: VD).

It seemed the situation at Eximbank had stabilized after the election of a new Chairman and Board of Directors, but this was followed by a series of capital withdrawals by various shareholder groups.

In mid-September 2022, Eximbank announced that Mr. Vo Quang Hien was no longer a member of the Board of Directors because he was no longer the authorized representative of SMBC shareholders. By January 2023, SMBC announced that it was officially no longer a major shareholder in the bank. In fact, after years of failing to resolve issues within Eximbank's top management, SMBC had withdrawn its representatives from the bank since the end of 2019. In February 2022, Eximbank officially terminated its strategic alliance with SMBC at the request of this foreign fund.

By October 2022, the shareholder groups associated with Thanh Cong had successively divested their shares in Eximbank, including Thanh Cong Joint Stock Cooperative, Phuc Thinh Joint Stock Company, and Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Ngoc.

In April 2023, prior to the 2023 annual general meeting, Eximbank received resignation letters from Mr. Nguyen Hieu and Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hung, both citing personal reasons. Both were members of the bank's Board of Directors.

Mr. Hung was nominated by a group of shareholders including Thang Phuong Joint Stock Company, Helios Investment and Services Joint Stock Company, Ms. Le Thi Mai Loan, and Mr. Nguyen Ho Nam. Mr. Nguyen Ho Nam is the Chairman of Bamboo Capital Group, while Ms. Le Thi Mai Loan was formerly a key personnel of this company.

On the evening of June 28, 2023, Eximbank unexpectedly announced the dismissal of Ms. Luong Thi Cam Tu and her replacement by Ms. Do Ha Phuong.

But just two days later, representatives of a group of shareholders sent a request to the Board of Directors to withdraw their nomination and dismiss Ms. Do Ha Phuong. Previously, Ms. Phuong had been nominated by this group of shareholders to join the Board of Directors for the 2020-2025 term.

Former female chairwoman Do Ha Phuong, born in the 1980s (Photo: Eximbank).

In April 2024, Eximbank once again changed its chairman, Mr. Nguyen Canh Anh. He was elected to the bank's Board of Directors at an extraordinary meeting at the end of 2023. Before joining Eximbank, Mr. Canh Anh worked for many years at large corporations and financial institutions such as Techcombank , Viettel, Vingroup, and most recently, EVN Finance.

Is the turmoil at Eximbank not over yet?

Recently, a document circulating in the market, titled "Urgent petition and feedback regarding serious risks leading to operational insecurity and the potential collapse of the Eximbank system," has been circulating. Several subsequent trading sessions have seen investors selling off large quantities of EIB shares on the stock exchange.

Eximbank subsequently stated that the document did not originate from the bank and had not been verified. However, the bank did not make any statement confirming that the circulating information was false.

The bank is expected to hold an extraordinary shareholders' meeting at the end of November to approve the change of its head office. This will be the first time the bank has held an extraordinary shareholders' meeting in Hanoi, instead of Ho Chi Minh City as before.

Eximbank has been established and developed in Ho Chi Minh City for over 30 years. The majority of its branches and staff live and work in the South. According to the bank's annual report, as of the end of last year, it had 16 branches in Ho Chi Minh City but only 6 branches in Hanoi.

However, looking at Eximbank's major shareholder structure after a period of change, it becomes clear that two of Eximbank's largest shareholders are headquartered in the North.

Specifically, according to the latest list of shareholders owning 1% or more of the charter capital, Gelex Group is the largest shareholder of Eximbank with 174.7 million shares, equivalent to 10% ownership. Gelex first appeared on Eximbank's shareholder list in July of this year. Subsequently, the company increased its ownership stake from 4.9% to 10%. The group is headquartered in Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi.

General Director Nguyen Van Tuan of Gelex is one of Gelex's largest shareholders. He previously held a significant stake in VIX Securities Joint Stock Company but divested all of it in 2022. According to Eximbank's announcement, VIX Securities currently owns over 62.3 million shares, equivalent to 3.58% of the bank's capital.

Eximbank's shareholder structure (Screenshot).

Most recently, Gelex stated that the company has not nominated any capital representatives to participate in Eximbank's Board of Directors or Executive Board.

Vietcombank is the second largest shareholder of Eximbank with a 4.51% stake. The bank is headquartered in Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi. In fact, Vietcombank has owned a significant amount of Eximbank shares for over a decade. Before 2012, Vietcombank held over 8.19% of Eximbank's capital, but later reduced its ownership to 4.5% at the request of state authorities.

Two other individuals, Ms. Luong Thi Cam Tu (Vice Chairman of Eximbank) and Ms. Le Thi Mai Loan, hold 1.12% and 1.03% of the bank's capital, respectively.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/kinh-doanh/thap-ky-roi-ren-cua-eximbank-9-lan-thay-chu-tich-20241025141925447.htm