English Quiz 205

(English Quiz 205)

1. Just looking at the numbers, these should be halcyon days for Vietnam's fledgling banking industry. The country's economy is booming—GDP surged 8.2% last year—and there's a vast pool of potential customers: only 8% of Vietnam's 85 million people even have bank accounts. At Sacombank, one of Vietnam's private commercial lenders, profits shot up 50% last year, and depositors doubled to 350,000. But Nguyen Quang Trung, Sacombank's deputy director, is anything but complacent. "We have to expand quickly throughout the country," Trung says. "We need to build capital. Our whole banking sector must grow up very fast." If Trung seems in a hurry, it's because Vietnam's financial-services industry is in for a year of tectonic change. To meet commitments Vietnam made in January upon joining the World Trade Organization (WTO), Hanoi this month is lifting restrictions on multinational banks operating in the country that prevented them from competing on an equal footing with domestic lenders. Previously, foreign banks were limited in their ability to acquire depositors and were allowed only one branch per city, among other constraints. But to get into the WTO, Hanoi promised to open its financial-services sector to the world faster than almost any other member. (China, which joined the WTO in 2001, had five years to open its banking market.) Already, eight foreign banks have applied to establish wholly owned Vietnam branches. Among them are UK-based HSBC, one of the world's largest banks, and ANZ (Australia and New Zealand Banking Group); both are planning to open 10 new branches each within three years so they can expand services such as credit cards, home mortgages and personal loans. "Definitely, the growth will be high," says Thuy Dam, ANZ's general manager for Vietnam.
Q: 試翻 "Just looking at the numbers, ... fledging backing industry."
Q: 試翻 "Hanoi this month ... with domestic lenders."

2. Multinational bankers are upbeat about their prospects because there is plenty of low-hanging fruit in this woefully underdeveloped market. Vietnam, which is modernizing parts of its communist economy through China-style free-market reforms, has no credit bureau and only a rudimentary system of deposit insurance. Consumer lending is nearly nonexistent. Banking has been dominated by five state-owned institutions—including the largest, the Agriculture and Rural Development Bank (Agribank)—which traditionally focused on financing large, government-owned factories and other enterprises. The country's burgeoning private businesses were virtually ignored. Because of these factors, "You have a pent-up demand for very basic banking services," says Patrick Winsbury, senior vice president for Moody's Investors Services. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
Q: 試翻 "Multinational bankers are ... woefully developed market."

3. Indeed, deposits are currently growing at rates unheard of in more mature economies. Out of a total of 7 million bank accounts held by Vietnamese, 6 million were opened in just the past two years. Up to now, the biggest beneficiaries have been Vietnam's 34 small private banks such as Sacombank that, unlike the state-owned banks, are relatively unburdened by government directives aimed at managing the economy. Catering to individual depositors and small-business borrowers, private lenders have powered much of the industry's recent growth. Among their target customers are people like Nguyen Thi Tuyet. Four years ago, the 30-year-old Hanoi travel agent became the first person in her family to open a bank account when she made a deposit in Agribank. Recently, she opened a second account with Techcombank, one of the country's private banks, and applied for her first Visa debit card. Tuyet says she prefers doing business with the latter because "the service is faster and more modern."
Q: 試翻 "Indeed, ... more mature economies."