Big tycoons secretly gather resources to buy banks The competition for shares of banks in the top 10 is getting stiffer: new buyers all are big tycoons with powerful financial capability.   New faces Nguyen Tuan Hai, chair of Alphanam (ALP), a renowned businessman who quit the stock market in late 2014 because of ALP’s continued losses, has unexpectedly appeared on the list of the National Citizen Bank’s board of directors. The fact that Hai has become a banker was a surprise to the business circle. Some months ago, Hai showed his intention not to continue listing shares on the HCM City bourse. However, an analyst noted that anyone keeping an eye on ALP’s development strategy would see that Hai has every reason to take such steps. He noted that Alphanam has been consistently following the M&A (merger & acquisition) strategy. Injecting money into the National Citizen Bank is the way Hai has chosen. The bank is believed to have to listed its shares on the bourse. However, he believes the pressure on Hai’s shoulders will not be tough because of the diversified structure of shareholders. Meanwhile, Hai, like other investors, has every reason to hope for the recovery of the banking sector in the future. If this happens, bank shares would increase in prices, thus benefiting investors like Hai. Also at NVB, a well-known name, Le Xuan Nghia, who was once a member of the National Advisory Council for Monetary Policy, has been appointed as an independent member of the board of directors, in charge of giving consultancy on corporate governance and business strategies. Vu Hong Nam, former deputy chair of Gami Group, has been appointed as the new chair of the bank. The withdrawal of Dang Thanh Tam, one of Vietnam’s richest stock millionaires, from Navibank and Western Bank has cleared the way for investors from Gami and ALP to penetrate banks. Prior to that, in late 2013, three unnamed individuals successfully bought 24 million Techcombank’s shares from Vietnam Airlines, who had to withdraw capital from the bank as requested by the government. Banking remains attractive Despite big losses and unsatisfactory business performances recently, the banking sector remains very attractive in investors’ eyes. The successful merger between Dai A Bank and HD Bank to form a large commercial bank, the 5th largest of the 14 banks in HCM City, has been hailed as a great success for Nguyen Thanh Hung and Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao. Do Minh Phu and Do Anh Tu, major gold and gemstone investors, have also jumped on the bandwagon to buy TPBank shares. Manh Ha, VNN