Vietnam banks demand ‘fees’ to sell dollars

Vietnam's banks are selling dollars to businesses at a premium on the official rate by adding “consulting” fees. The State Bank of Vietnam Monday set the reference rate for the greenback at VND20,713 based on which banks sold it at VND20,900.

But V., director of a trading firm based in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 7, said a state-owned bank demanded VND21,300 – or 1.91 percent higher – when he exchanged dong to repay his $70,000 loan.

A bank staff admitted collecting a “consulting” fee since the bank had itself paid a premium to buy the dollars from importers.

Other businesses also complained about having to pay similar fees to buy dollars from banks.

After the central bank recently promised to act against banks selling the dollar at above the official rate, many refused to sell the greenback yesterday, claiming not to have any dollars.

Tuoi Tre discovered that if businesses want to buy dollars to repay debts, banks provide them at an agreed price.

The greenback traded at VND21,750 on the black market yesterday, a VND50 rise, pushing gold prices up to over VND36 million per tael.

The central bank last Friday devalued the dong by 8.5 percent, which gave the dollar a 9.3 percent boost against the dong, and narrowed the daily trading band to 1 percent from 3 percent.