Consumer credit market sees more M&A deals The increased presence of foreign investors in M&A deals of finance companies shows the attractiveness of the consumer credit market.      Vietnam is among the countries with the highest ratios of consumption to GDP in Asia, as young people are borrowing more money to buy consumer goods. The growing tendency has caught attention from foreign institutions and stimulated the birth of new lenders and more M&As. In late January, Prudential announced the sale of PVFC, its consumer finance company, for $151 million, becoming the first foreign company to sell 100 percent of its shares. Meanwhile, Techcombank is the first commercial bank selling a finance company. The buyer of TechcomFinance is Lotte, a South Korean investor. The value of the deal has not been announced in Vietnam, but South Korean media reported the deal is worth VND1.7 trillion. Three investors from South Korea have joined the Vietnamese consumer finance market, including the veteran company of Mirae Asset. Local newspapers have reported that Japanese Shinsei Group has acquired 49 percent of shares of the Military Bank’s finance company – Mcredit. Prior to that, Saison jumped into HDBank’s consumer finance company. Techcombank is the first commercial bank selling a finance company. The buyer of TechcomFinance is Lotte, a South Korean investor. The value of the deal has not been announced in Vietnam, but South Korean media reported the deal is worth VND1.7 trillion. The other Japanese investors in the field include Toyota Finance, JACCS Vietnam and ACS Vietnam, which belongs to AEON Finance. An analyst said that foreign-run companies have advantages in capital and experience developing products. 2017 was the first operation year of Mcredit after Military Bank joined hands with Shinsei. Speaking about the role of the foreign shareholder, Hoang Minh Tuan, CEO of Mcredit, said Shinsei Bank has contributed to improvements in risk management related to customer management, loan management, and optimization of business processes, and has proposed technological solutions for the development of new channels. Finance companies are gearing up to expand their business and cement their positions in the market. Home Credit has announced changes in brand identity and committed to make bigger investments with the presence of a new CEO, who was an important figure in the Russian market. Meanwhile, FE Credit has been steadily increasing its charter capital every year from VND2.790 trillion in 2016 to VND4.474 trillion in 2017. Finance companies have been exploiting the Vietnamese consumer finance market in the last six years. Consumer credit accounted for 9.8 percent of GDP in 2016, while the figure was 5.2 percent in 2013.  Nam Hai, VNN