Dec. 16 - Results of a survey done by an international auditing company reports that although Vietnam’s banking sector has developed the credibility of the banks’ internal audit is still a concern.

PricewaterhouseCoopers Vietnam said that 92.6 percent of  of banks surveyed maintain internal audit function but only 41 percent of the existing internal audit functions were centralized.

The survey shows that in 78 percent of the cases the internal audit and the internal control functions overlap.

Oct. 27 - Vietnam's State Securities Commission (SSC) has released a list of companies selling stocks that do not meet basic regulations.

Some companies were foud guilty of selling shares violating the Law on Securities.
The Law on Securities stipulates that companies with charter capital under VND10 billion (US$606,000) are not qualified to sell securities.

The SSC has already sent the list of the violating companies to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, provincial and municipal People’s Committees, and the Department of Planning and Investment.

By Chua Siew Joo

Sept. 2 - Vietnam celebrated its independence today, with rallies and parties throughout the country. Governement leaders paid tribute to President Ho Chi Minh at his mausoleum and laid wreath at the Monument to Fallen Soldiers

Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam independent on the second of September in 1945, after nearly 60 years of French colonial rule. The country however, only achieved a peaceful state of development after the Cambodian settlement of October 1991.

by Chua Siew Joo

Aug. 6 - At a recent HIV prevention and drug detoxification symposium in Hanoi, Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam, Truong Vinh Trong, urged ministries, sectors and localities to prioritize prevention programs to curb the spread of HIV/AIDs.

June 16- The country held a public funeral Sunday to mourn the death of former Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet. He was the prime minister from 1991 to 1997 who led the nation’s economic reforms and supported normalization of ties with the United States. He was 85.

Kiet died last Wednesday in a hospital in Singapore, where he was taken following a stroke.

The government announced two days of mourning to honor Kiet with flags flying at half-mast.

May 23 - It bodes well for those planning to do business in Vietnam to take the time to know how local culture conducts business deals to avoid any miscommunication.

As with most people in the world, the Vietnamese tend to be flattered when a foreigner makes the effort to learn even a simple phrase in their language. So take note to remember -xin chao (pronounced as seen chow)- meaning hello in Vietnamese.

While you may be forgiven for not knowing better in some cases, it’s always in your best interest to avoid offending the locals. Generally, Vietnam is influenced by Confucianism and shares more common business practices with China, Japan and Korea compared to its Southeast Asian neighbors.