A particularly worrying trend is the movement of large state-owned conglomerates into financial activities. Large SOEs like Petro-Vietnam (oil and gas), EVN (electricity), Vinashin (shipbuilding), FPT (computers and computer software), Vinatex (garments and textiles), and Vinacomin (mining) have opened banks, finance companies, securities firms, leasing companies and insurers. According to press reports, twenty-eight of seventy “general corporations” have created subsidiaries in banking, securities and insurance, accounting for 20 per cent of total investment.12 Petro-Vietnam,
the state oil company, has six financial firms.13 These ventures enable state business groups to leverage state assets and their privileged position in domestic markets. Allowing this trend to continue poses several immediate risks for the government. First, SBV will not be able to regain control over the money supply if industrial firms are allowed to set up new vehicles to create credit for themselves. Second, intra-group lending is a notoriously risky practice that diverts credit away from sound businesses and towards less deserving projects. Bank insolvency at least partly related to intra-group lending has triggered financial crises in a number of developing countries in Asia and Latin America. Third, these financing vehicles create instruments that managers use to shift value from public companies to private entities, including joint stock companies that are child firms of SOEs.
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