The State Bank of Vietnam ( vi, Ngân hàng Nhà nước Việt Nam) is the

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union, and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central ba ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. It currently holds an about 65% stake of VietinBank - the country's largest listed bank by capital.

History

When

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

was under French rule, the colonial government governed the Indochinese monetary system through

Banque de l'Indochine The Banque de l'Indochine (), originally Banque de l'Indo-Chine ("Bank of Indochina"), was a bank created in 1875 in Paris to finance French colonial development in Asia. As a bank of issue in Indochina until 1952 (and in French Paci ...

, which also acted as a commercial bank in French Indochina. After the

August Revolution The August Revolution ( vi, Cách-mạng tháng Tám), also known as the August General Uprising (), was a revolution launched by the Việt Minh (League for the Independence of Vietnam) against the Empire of Vietnam and the Empire of Japan in ...

in 1945, the government of the

Democratic Republic of Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...

gradually attempted to exercise a monetary system independent from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. On 6 May 1951, president

Hồ Chí Minh (: ; born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), commonly known as ('Uncle Hồ'), also known as ('President Hồ'), ('Father of the Nation, Old father of the people') and by other Pseudonym, aliases, was a Vietnamese people, Vietnam ...

signed decree 15/SL on establishment of National Bank of Vietnam (''Ngân hàng Quốc gia Việt Nam''). On 21 January 1960, the governor of the bank signed an ordinance on behalf of the prime minister to rename the bank State Bank of Vietnam (''Ngân hàng Nhà nước Việt Nam''). After the

fall of Saigon The Fall of Saigon, also known as the Liberation of Saigon by North Vietnamese or Liberation of the South by the Vietnamese government, and known as Black April by anti-communist overseas Vietnamese was the capture of Saigon, the capital of ...

, the two Vietnams were united but not until July 1976 did the two countries’ administrations and institutions unite. In July 1976, the National Bank of Vietnam (the central bank of

Republic of Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...

) was merged into the State Bank of Vietnam. In the Doi moi liberalisation era, the banking system of Vietnam was reformed. New banks were created, starting with the

Industrial and Commercial Bank of Vietnam Vietinbank (Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade) ( vi, Ngân hàng Thương mại Cổ phần Công thương Việt Nam) is a state-owned Vietnamese bank. It has strategic partnerships with the International Finance Corporat ...

(VietinBank - now the largest listed bank) and the

Vietnam Bank for Agriculture The Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development or Agribank ( vi, Ngân hàng Nông nghiệp và Phát triển Nông thôn Việt Nam) is the largest commercial bank in Vietnam by total assets. It is a state-owned corporation under a spe ...

in 1988, and the role of the State Bank was gradually narrowed to that of a central bank. In 1990, an ordinance reorganised the state bank and redefined its function as: "on behalf of the State, of managing money, credit, and banking operations throughout the country in order to stabilize a value of money, and is the only agency with power to circulate the currency of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam"ordinance on the State Bank of Vietnam, 23 May 1990
translation on the website of the Embassy of Vietnam in the United States
While the State Bank continued to lend to state-owned enterprises in the following years, it has now been largely superseded in the respect by other state-owned banks and by private banks.

Buildings

Several of the State Bank of Vietnam’s buildings are inherited from the

. These include the State Bank’s headquarters in

Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...

, former Hanoi office completed in 1930; the

Ho Chi Minh City , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

branch, former central office in Indochina, also completed in 1930; and the branches in

Haiphong Haiphong ( vi, Hải Phòng, ), or Hải Phòng, is a major industrial city and the third-largest in Vietnam. Hai Phong is also the center of technology, economy, culture, medicine, education, science and trade in the Red River delta. Haiphong wa ...

(completed in 1925) and

Nam Định Nam Định () is a city in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam. It is the capital of Nam Định Province. The city of Nam Định is 90 km south-east of Vietnam's capital, Hanoi. From August 18–20 of each year, there is a festival hel ...

(completed in 1929) among others.

Controversies

The former prime minister,

Nguyễn Tấn Dũng Nguyễn Tấn Dũng (born 17 November 1949) is a Vietnamese politician who served as the Prime Minister of Vietnam from 2006 to 2016. He was confirmed by the National Assembly on 27 June 2006, having been nominated by his predecessor, Phan Vă ...

, was a governor while he held the post of senior deputy prime minister, but later bestowed the governor's post upon Le Duc Thuy. There has been criticism of the printing quality of the new

polymer A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic a ...

đồng banknotes. Controversy also surrounded the purchase of the state house by governor Le Duc Thuy when he bought a house belonging to the bank one tenth of the market value. However, the government stopped the deal when the media reported the purchase.

Functions and roles

The State Bank of Vietnam is a ministry-level body under the administration of the government; the bank governor is a member of the cabinet (equivalent to a minister in the cabinet). The governor is nominated by the prime minister subject to the approval of the National Assembly (Parliament). Vice governors are appointed by the prime minister on the recommendation of the governor. Both governor and vice governors serve a 5-year term. The State Bank of Vietnam defines its principal roles a

# Promote monetary stability and formulate monetary policy, monetary policies. # Promote institutions’ stability and supervise

financial institution Financial institutions, sometimes called banking institutions, are business entities that provide services as intermediaries for different types of financial monetary transactions. Broadly speaking, there are three major types of financial insti ...

s. # Provide banking facilities and recommend

economic policies The economy of governments covers the systems for setting levels of taxation, government budgets, the money supply and interest rates as well as the labour market, national ownership, and many other areas of government interventions into the e ...

to the government. # Provide banking facilities for the financial institutions. # Manage the country's

international reserves Foreign exchange reserves (also called forex reserves or FX reserves) are cash and other reserve assets such as gold held by a central bank or other monetary authority that are primarily available to balance payments of the country, influence ...

. # Print and issue

banknote A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable instrument, negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes w ...

s. # Supervise all commercial banks’ activities in Vietnam. Lend the state money to the commercial banks. # Issue government bonds, organise bond auctions. # Be in charge of other roles in monetary management and foreign exchange rates

Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam

References

External links

*
State Bank of Vietnam official website
{{Coord, 21.0274, N, 105.8563, E, source:wikidata, display=title Banks of Vietnam

Government of Vietnam Banks established in 1951 Vietnamese companies established in 1951