Recovery rate of distressed loans below expectations

At a meeting with the State Bank of Vietnam in Hanoi on Wednesday, a team of the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption released results of an inspection of the recovery of non-performing loans (NPL) in corruption and economic cases.

The inspection found that during the aforesaid period, banks reported nearly VND62 trillion (US$2.65 billion) in distressed loans in Vietnam dong and US$18.52 million in foreign currency, as the consequences of corruption and economic crimes. These lenders have coordinated with relevant agencies to recover more than VND10.8 trillion and US$10.09 million only.

Obstacles to the recovery of such NPLs included limited supervision and inspection of the work, the prolonged settlement of complicated cases, and banks’ inaction.

Phan Dinh Trac, deputy head of the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption, said at the meeting that the central bank should improve its coordination with the Ministry of Justice and other ministries and localities to cope with those obstacles to swiftly settle bad debts and mortgaged assets.

The bank should also instruct credit organizations to strengthen coordination with law enforcement agencies to speed up the delayed cases soon, he added.