On July 15 and 18, SCB announced the closure of nine branches (PGD). On July 15, the bank closed four branches in Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Dinh. On July 18, five more branches in Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, and Hai Phong had to shut their doors.
According to VietNamNet’s statistics, SCB has closed 91 branches nationwide since the arrest of Truong My Lan in connection with the Van Thinh Phat case.
Of these, 47 branches were closed in 2023, and an additional 44 have been shut down in the first seven months of 2024.
The peak of these closures occurred in June 2024, when 16 SCB branches ceased operations. This was followed by October and December of 2023, when 14 branches closed their doors each month.
Truong My Lan, former chairman of Van Thinh Phat Group and major shareholder with a controlling stake in SCB, was indicted in October 2022. The bank’s troubles became evident after this, especially when customers demanded their rights after purchasing bonds arranged by SCB.
 As of now, SCB has just over 100 remaining branches. Image source: SCB
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However, it wasn’t until June 2023 that the bank began terminating operations at numerous locations.
Since then, there hasn’t been a month without an announcement from the bank about the closure of at least one branch.
Prior to the Van Thinh Phat scandal, SCB boasted a network of 239 branches across 28 provinces and cities nationwide.
The number of SCB branches that have ceased operations in the past year is even higher than the number of “best” awards the bank has received. According to VietNamNet, from 2015 to 2022, the bank received 72 prestigious awards with titles like “top” and “best in Vietnam.”
Along with the closure of many branches, the bank also announced the liquidation of 23 cash-in-transit vehicles and 27 used ATMs.
The entire lot of cash-in-transit vehicles was initially put up for auction in January 2024, with a package deal of VND 3.987 billion. However, due to a lack of buyers, the bank decided to sell them individually in June, with prices ranging from VND 127-220 million each.
Meanwhile, SCB has not disclosed the starting price for the used ATMs.
SCB currently has a chartered capital of VND 20 trillion and is under special control by the State Bank of Vietnam. According to the investigation conclusion of the Ministry of Public Security, Truong My Lan controlled and owned the majority of shares in SCB, with a stake of up to 91.5%.
By Tuân Nguyễn
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