KTFA Vietnam:
Henig: PM holds roundtable discussion with Brunei energy, oil and gas firms
February, 11/2023 – 17:11
Delegates discussed and proposed new business ideas and opportunities to lift bilateral economic, trade and investment ties, especially in energy and oil and gas.
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN — Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính held a roundtable discussion with Brunei energy and oil and gas enterprises in Bandar Seri Begawan capital on February 11, as part of his ongoing visit to Brunei.
Delegates discussed and proposed new business ideas and opportunities to lift bilateral economic, trade and investment ties, especially in energy and oil and gas.
A representative of the Brunei Government shared the vision, socio-economic development strategy and economic restructuring and diversification plans under the Brunei Vision 2035 that turns the country into an economy with dynamic and sustainable development.
PM Chính committed all possible support for Brunei firms to do business effectively and sustainably in the country. “Your success is also our success,” he affirmed.
He suggested both nations focus on promoting emerging economic fields such as green, digital, circular and knowledge-based economies and innovation; diversifying markets, products and supply chains. He asked for measures to step up collaboration in energy, chemicals, and Halal food for Islamic people.
The Vietnamese leader expressed his belief that with determination, efforts and close friendship between the two peoples, trade and investment cooperation will continue to be an important pillar of Việt Nam-Brunei relationship and a driving force to lift bilateral ties to a greater height.
— VNS LINK
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Henig: HDBank to maintain high growth, promote digital transformation
February, 11/2023 – 13:40
The Ho Chi Minh City Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank (HDBank) is set to maintain strong growth both in scale and quality, a representative of the bank told its Investors Conference while announcing its business results for 2022 in HCM City on February 10
HCM CITY — The Ho Chi Minh City Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank (HDBank) is set to maintain strong growth both in scale and quality, a representative of the bank told its Investors Conference while announcing its business results for 2022 in HCM City on February 10.
The bank is focusing on programmes that are expected to make a positive contribution to raise operational efficiency and safety for the bank such as implementing Basel III standards, accelerating digital transformation and further promoting the service sector.
The representative said HDBank’s 2022 results were the “best-ever,” with its pre-tax profit up 27.2 per cent over 2021 to VNĐ10.27 trillion (US$435.8 million).
Total operating income topped VNĐ21.97 trillion ($933 million), a year-on-year rise of 31.1 per cent.
The bank’s bancassurance revenue more than doubled over the figure of 2021, promising robust growth in the future.
HDBank’s asset quality was also at a good level with the consolidated and stand-alone non-performing loan ratio at 1.67 per cent and 1.3 per cent, respectively, much lower than the sector’s average of 1.92 per cent.
The loan-to-deposit ratio was low compared to the maximum level set by the State Bank of Vietnam thanks to its success in liquidity risk management and capital mobilsation from businesses and households.
As of December 31, 2022, HDBank had 347 branches and transaction offices and more than 24,500 consumer finance transaction points, with over 16,000 employees serving over 14 million customers.
In addition, it has a large and potential customer ecosystem including customers of HDBank, Vietjet Air and HD SAISON.
The bank attributed its outstanding results last year to its implementation of a number of strategic initiatives such as speeding up digital banking development, taking advantage of its ecosystem, promoting bancassurance and enhancing corporate governance and environmental and social risk governance in line with the best international standards.
Notably, HDBank’s digital transformation has delivered positive results, with the number of customers using digital banking services nearly doubling, and transaction value up by 547 per cent last year.
This year, the bank aims to maintain high growth momentum, effectively manage risks, and ensure asset quality and operational safety indicators that are among the best in the sector.
Meanwhile, it will carry out programmes to support customers to overcome difficulties.
Besides that, the bank is also stepping up signing an exclusive bancassurance contract and mobilising international capital at a reasonable cost to further improve its safety and performance indicators to be ready to apply Basel III.
— VNS LINK
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Henig: RoK firms show interest in Việt Nam’s medical equipment market
February, 11/2023 – 11:14
This year’s edition will be the first to be held in Việt Nam and feature 250 booths by 150 domestic and foreign firms, COEX said.
SEOUL — COEX, a leading exhibition organiser and venue of the Republic of Korea (RoK), and the Vietnam Advertisement and Fair Exhibition JSC (VIETFAIR) will co-organise the Mekong Medical & Healthcare Expo 2023 in the southern province of Bình Dương in June.
This year’s edition will be the first to be held in Việt Nam and feature 250 booths by 150 domestic and foreign firms, COEX said.
It is expected to help Korean businesses penetrate the health sector of Việt Nam and other countries in the region.
COEX CEO Lee Dong-gi stressed that the Vietnamese health sector has posted an annual growth rate of 13.1 per cent over the past five years, with more than 90 per cent of medical equipment and supplies imported.
The country’s total health expenditure accounts for about 6.5 per cent of its GDP, the highest in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), he said, calling Việt Nam a promising market for Korean medical equipment firms.
The organisers will prepare diverse solutions to help Korean companies expand its global network and explore new markets in ASEAN through the exhibition, he said.
— VNS LINK
Henig: HCMC ranks among top markets for data centre development
February, 11/2023 – 12:15
HCM City is ranked among the top markets in the land price category for data centre development, experts said.
HCM CITY — HCM City is ranked among the top markets in the land price category for data centre development, experts said.
In an annual report by Cushman & Wakefield, the company said that with many of the largest markets in the APAC region boasting particularly high land costs, only HCM City ranks within the top 10 for the land price category.
The rest of the top ten markets in the category are: Columbus, Santiago, Johannesburg, Atlanta, Nashville, Phoenix, Austin, Denver, and Chicago.
The report ranks major data centre markets around the world according to 13 weighted categories, including market size, fiber connectivity, power cost and environmental risk, to determine the top overall markets as well as the top performing markets in each category.
According to the company’s latest forth quarter of 2022 HCM City marketbeat report, the average rental price reached US$159 per sq.m per lease cycle, up 3 per cent quarter-on-quarter and 10 per cent year-on-year.
Việt Nam may be a frontier data centre market at this juncture but it has numerous fundamentals that would suggest great potential for development going forward. The country currently has 70 per cent internet penetration, with an estimated 29 million people yet to get online.
Over 48 per cent of Việt Nam’s capacity is located in the centre of HCM City. Currently, only a small number of multinationals require high-level capacity.
The common approach for international operators is to partner with local telecommunication operators. There is a sizable lack of existing infrastructure relative to the population of the market and demand for internet services. This represents a major opportunity at both the content provision and infrastructure establishment level.
According to Cush & Walkfield, south of HCM City is preferred as a hub for data centres, especially for cloud services platform providers, due to latency issues and the securing of manpower. CMC Telecom opened its Tân Thuận Data Centre in August last year. The facility was designed by B-Barcelona of Singapore. The facility has a total area of 13,133sq.m and was 30 per cent pre-leased at launch according to CMC.
Australian edge data centres firm Edge Centres has expanded into Asia with the deployment of their first data centre, EC51, in Việt Nam in HCM City in collaboration with the Việt Nam National University. They also have plans for an additional edge site in HCM City.
GAW Capital acquired greenfield land in the Sài Gòn Hi-Tech Park in the city. The data centre is expected to be over 18,000sq.m and support 20MW in capacity.
Viettel, a Vietnamese telecommunications company, announced plans to build a new data centre with $260 million in investment. While specifics on the facility have yet to be announced, this would be Viettel’s third project in the city.
Competition for sites between both data centre players and other asset classes has reached a fever pitch over the course of the past year. Fulfillment centres and large-scale single family rental developments have been evaluating similar sites as data centres.
According to the company, one notable advantage that data centres have in competition for these sites is the limited impact on surrounding traffic and parking availability, a key area of concern for a number of local communities. However, data centres do require a higher power draw, and there have seen greater local community concerns about the potential effect on electrical grids. The growth of edge data centres has continued, optimising workload for latency.
— VNS LINK
