VAMC buys $190 million of bad debts The Viet Nam Asset Management Company (VAMC) has purchased nearly VND4 trillion (US$190.4 million) in bad debts from 10 credit institutions in the first quarter of this year, said VAMC's member council vice president Nguyen Quoc Hung. Hung told the Sai Gon Economic Times online that the total 169 debts have been refinanced with VAMC issued special bonds worth VND3.048 trillion ($145.1 million). So far, the State-owned VAMC, launched in July, 2013 to remove bad debts from the banking sector, has bought VND42.8 trillion ($2.038 billion) of debts from 40 credit institution in Viet Nam, the vice president said. According to VAMC, it would buy 70 trillion ($3.3 billion) of bad debt in four quarters of 2014. It also set to buy VND10 trillion ($476.2 million) in the first quarter. Though the purchasing this time seemed fail to meet the plan, the vice president still determined to reach the year target. He told the newspaper that they would not buy the debts at any price but would take the best choice for their buying. And more importantly, he added, VAMC had to solve the bad debts they bought. VAMC, according to Hung was focusing on reviewing, classifying the debt to coordinate with the credit institutions for best handling them. Hung had positive outlook on the debt solving possibilities this year, adding that credit institutions should not find his company the only channel for the solution. They must be visionary about their assets quality and seek alternatives to handle bad debt in the long term, Hung added, saying if the credit institutions do nothing actively, they would fail. VNS