Alfa-Bank headed for Vietnam – Newspaper Kommersant No. 67 (7512) dated 18.04.
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The largest private credit institution in the Russian Federation, Alfa-Bank, chose the Vietnamese market for its “turn to the east” under the sanctions. The bank announced its readiness to accompany business in the country and has already launched direct settlements in national currencies. Given the planned multiple growth in trade between Russia and Vietnam – up to $10 billion by 2025, experts consider the idea promising. Other players are also eyeing Vietnam, but the plans have not yet been disclosed.
Alfa-Bank (under US, EU and UK sanctions) announced the launch of a consulting service for entrepreneurs and foreign trade participants to enter the Vietnamese market. “We offer our clients a full cycle of doing business with Vietnam. At the moment, the bank is already making payments in the national currency, we are also open to new partnerships with Vietnamese banks,” the credit institution explained. “In Alfa-Bank, entrepreneurs can make international transfers, it is possible to receive personal currency control support. Entrepreneurs can send up to 50 monthly payments to Vietnam in rubles for free.”
In 2022, trade between Russia and Vietnam amounted to $3.75 billion, but there are plans to expand cooperation. The parties see the potential to increase trade to $10 billion by 2025, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko noted on April 6 in Hanoi. According to him, Vietnam and Russia intend to approve a long-term plan for the development of cooperation, including in terms of financial mutual settlements in national currencies.
Most of the largest banks did not respond to Kommersant’s request for readiness to develop banking services related to Russian-Vietnamese cooperation. Only VTB reported that within the framework of the joint Vietnamese-Russian Bank (VRB), its customers have access to retail and corporate services. The development of payments between the two countries in national currencies, which are growing at a rapid pace, was called a priority project there.
At the same time, the main priority for Russian banks now seems to be the development of settlements in yuan, Indian rupees are in second place, the Vietnamese currency has never been among the purely popular even among the “marginal”.
Bankers recognize the prospects of Vietnam, but do not disclose their plans in the country. “The development of Russian-Vietnamese relations has always had great potential. Our clients interact with Vietnamese companies and make money transfers mainly in Chinese yuan,” one of the banks explained to Kommersant. “Payments in Vietnamese dong do not have a steady demand from customers due to the low convertibility of the currency and the impossibility of buying it through the Moscow Exchange.”
However, in general, the development of foreign economic activity of clients in the Asian direction has great prospects, emphasizes independent expert Andrei Barkhota. “Probably, Alfa-Bank prepared not only the necessary correspondent accounts in Vietnamese banks, but also adapted the product line of foreign economic activity to the specifics of the Vietnamese market,” he believes. and cross-selling prospects.”
The bank, in fact, itself forms a chain of foreign economic activity participants, which makes it possible for them to become the main financial agent, adds Anna Avakimyan, chief analyst at RegBlock. The pool of income from working in the Vietnamese market will not be able to replace those that Russian banks received as part of foreign economic activity with now “unfriendly” countries, she admits, but “successful piloting of this project will help to scale it up in other countries.”
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