Local gold prices yesterday slumped from a record high of around VND500,000 per tael, while buying and selling prices fluctuated around VND17.05-17.18 million (US$1,093-1,073) per tael.

The price is not forecast to fall any more critically since the dollar has seen no clear signs of a rebound and due to political tensions around the world. The Sai Gon Jewellery Company (SJC) yesterday listed buying and selling prices of VND17.05 million and VND17.15 million ($1,093-1,071) per tael in Ha Noi and HCM City. At closing time, Ha Noi-based Bao Tin Minh Chau Jewellery Company (BTMC) listed prices of VND17.06 million and 17.18 million per tael.

"The volume of customers who’ve come here [SJC Ha Noi] today are only one-fifth or one-sixth of those earlier in the week," said Luu Quang Dien, director of SJC Ha Noi.

BTMC reported that the number of traders who bought gold was larger than those who sold it, and that clients were not selling much.

Late yesterday, global gold prices fell $852 per ounce (one ounce is equivalent to 1.2 tael) from $914 three days ago when the local gold price reached its highest level, at VND17.78 million per tael. The slight recovery of the stock market and the warming property market were said to have very little effect on gold trading, which hinges on global gold prices.

 The manager of the State Bank of Viet Nam’s HCM City branch, Ho Huu Hanh, yesterday announced a new chairman to replace the recently-arrested chairman of Phuong Nam Commercial Joint-stock Bank (Southern Bank).

At a meeting in HCM City, Hanh announced two decisions of dismissing Le Anh Kiet and appointing Mach Thieu Duc, the temporary chairman, to officially chair for the bank.

Kiet was arrested on Monday on attempted murder charges.

Duc said at the meeting that the bank would have a policy to fill in the hole from the 6 per cent stake of its former chairman in case it was frozen by the police.

"We will arrange the capital to ensure a normal run in the bank’s operation," said Duc. The newly appointed chairman has 12 years of leadership experience and holds a 5 per cent stake at the bank.

Initial observation shows that there are no unusual signs in operations at branches of the bank in Ha Noi.

According to deputy general director of Southern Bank-Ha Noi, Tran Hai Anh, 90 withdrawal transactions with some VND20 billion (US$1.25 million) and over 30 deposits with VND5 billion (US$312,500) were made in the city yesterday.

"The number of transactions has increased a little compared with other days. However, It is a normal movement in the banking sector and it is still under our control," said Anh.

The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) has issued a decision to regulate the opening and closing of non-banks credit institutions based on their time in the market and holding capital.

SBV deputy governor, Tran Minh Tuan, said the Decision No 01/2008/QD-NHNN was designed to restructure the country’s non-bank credit institutions, which are mainly financial companies and finance leasing companies.

Under the decision, which will take effect on January 24, non-bank credit institutions can open new branches in domestic markets after one year of operation, provided that they can meet the requirements on charter capital amongst others.

The central bank’s newly publicised regulation stipulates that to open new branches, non-bank institutions must have a 20 per cent ratio of pre-tax profit on stockholder equity in their previous year of operation.

As for bad debt ratio, finance leasing companies cannot have their figures at less than 3 per cent of total outstanding loans. The figure for financial companies is under 2 per cent.

Non-bank credit institutions wanting to open branches or representative offices abroad must have been operational for at least three years. The new decision also stipulates that countries where the institutions plan to open branches or representative offices must have signed agreements with Viet Nam’s central bank on supervising the operation of the institutions’ branches.

As for the opening of new branches and rep offices, the newly publicised regulation states that non-bank credit institutions will not be allowed to open more branches or transaction offices if they already have enough branches as stipulated by current regulations.

This law lays out that these institutions’ total number of branches and transaction points is calculated by the quotient, in which the numerator is the difference of the current chartered capital and the legal capital, while the denominator is VND50 billion.

An Binh Bank (ABBank) inked a number of deals yesterday to expand its range of electronic payment services.

ABBank together with Electricity of Viet Nam (EVN) has developed an electronic portal, which allows the payment of EVN bills at ATMs, point-of-sale terminals as well as online.

On the same day, the joint stock bank issued its first ATM cards and signed contracts with Ha Noi electricity company PCHN and General Export and Import company (GELEXIMCO) also covering payment services.

ABBank is a member of BanknetVN, Smartlink and PayNet, which permits cardholders to use point-of-sale terminals and ATMs nationwide to access banking services, make purchases and pay bills.

"The Government’s decision to pay its employees via bank transfer affords great opportunity for banks," says Nguyen Thi Ngoc Mai ABBank deputy general director.

Around 8.3 million people use bank cards at 6,000 ATMs and 21,000 POS across the country. Local debit cards account for 92.5 per cent of all cards in circulation while credit cards account for 7.5 per cent.

The Government and central bank of Viet Nam are looking to increase the use of non-cash payment towards 2010.

HCM City’s two main bus stations are operating extra services over the Tet holiday to meet increased passenger demand.

"Based on the number of passengers last year, we will arrange more than 3,400 coaches to meet people’s transport needs over the 10 days before and after Tet [January 27 to February 9]," said Nguyen Ngoc Thua, director of the East Bus Station Company Ltd.

Bus companies are expecting around 30,000 extra passengers daily in the run up to the Lunar New Year and 60,000 at the start of the holidays.

Bus companies are also expecting passenger numbers to soar at West Bus Station, which feeds the western provinces of Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Tra Vinh, Can Tho, Dong Thap, An Giang.

Bus companies expect passenger numbers to increase by around 5 per cent over last year. "We have prepared enough buses to serve the extra passengers," said Han Thi Yen, deputy director of West Bus Station joint stock company.

Transport companies are expecting around 61,000 passengers a day at West Bus Station over Tet. However, during peak times (8am-10pm) West Bus Station would struggle to cope, said Yen.

To relieve congestion at the busiest times, some passengers will have to travel from Sai Gon Transport Mechanical Company and HCM City Transport and Public Works Department.

This year, bus companies have been allowed to set their own ticket prices.

Transport companies operating out of the East Bus Station are likely to raise ticket prices by between 20-60 per cent from January 27 and February 9 to offset higher fuel prices and the cost of having empty coaches on the return leg to HCM City.

Due to price differences passengers would be able to shop around, said Yen.

So far, bus companies operating out of East Bus Station said they had sold around 20,000 tickets.

However, more than 200 companies operating from the station have yet to make tickets for Tet available to the public.

"Their reason is that they are in process of listing ticket prices. Just three transport companies have handed tickets over to us, the largest of which is Sai Gon Transportation Company, which has issued 3,200 tickets," said Thua.

As usual, East Bus Station started selling tickets one month before Tet. But this year, "buyers will have to wait in long queues to buy tickets due to the slow ticket issuance of transport companies," said Thua, who added that more ticket staff would be working to speed up the process.

At West Bus Station, the issuing of tickets appears to be running more smoothly. Ticket sales are to be staggered to make the process more efficient.

Bus tickets for Tet will be sold from 3am–10pm on January 30 and 31, and around the clock seven days a week in February until the end of the holiday period.

To further shorten queues, the bus station is also offering a home-delivery service for pre-booked tickets.

 The challenges tuberculosis (TB) poses for the country are still great, according to Dinh Ngoc Si, the director of the National Hospital of TB and Lung Diseases.

At the conference reviewing TB prevention activities in 2007, held yesterday in Ha Noi, Si stated that multi-drug-resistant TB treatments, HIV/AIDS combined TB treatments and problems of treatment access among minorities were the greatest obstacles.

However, despite these difficulties, the National Programme on TB Prevention (NPTP) had thus far helped more than 90 per cent of TB patients recover from the disease in 2007, said Si.

However, Si stressed that TB rates were still high, especially among the young, particularly males between of 15 and 24 years of age.

From 2008 to 2011, the NPTP will focus on reducing the rate and spread of TB infection and resulting death. It will also focus on preventing multi-drug-resistant TB, improving the quality and accessibility of health care services for ethnic minority people and the poor, and implementing a strategy for collaboration between state and private healthcare providers across 12 provinces and cities.

According to NPTP statistics, in 2007, 235 out of every 100,000 people were infected with TB. Of this, new TB cases comprised 175 out of every 100,000. The rate of TB contraction among HIV infected people between the ages of 15 and 49 was 3 per cent. Multi-drug-resistant TB cases totalled 2.3 per cent.

Viet Nam is in its 9th continuous year of pursuing World Health Organisation (WHO) targets, having diagnosed 70 per cent of TB cases in the country and provided successful treatment for over 85 per cent of the known patients.