Vu Ne Tang, left, acting chief of Vietnam's National Financial Supervisory Commission (NFSC), poses with Won Ho-joon, an executive director of Korea Asset Management Corp. (KAMCO) at the Busan International Finance Center in Busan, April 25. Courtesy of KAMCO

Vu Ne Tang, acting chief of Vietnam's National Financial Supervisory Commission, expressed gratitude to Korea for sharing its experience and knowledge in managing distressed loans.

The acting top financial regulator was among a delegation of economic and monetary authorities of Korea's Southeast Asian partner. The high-level government officials came to Korea on April 25 to attend a seminar hosted by Korea Asset Management Corp. (KAMCO), a state-run organization.

Included were officials of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the State Bank of Vietnam, the country's central bank.

Korea's management of distressed loans in the Asia Financial Crisis in the late 1990s was an internationally recognized example of the government functioning as a safeguard of financial stability in times of crisis.

"I was glad to deepen my understanding of the history of Korea's restructuring and recovery of distressed loans."

KAMCO held a session and discussed details of the status quo of Korea-Vietnam cooperation on the insolvency settlement.

Among the topics were the history of Korea's distressed loan acquisition and settlement, credit recovery programs and ways to bolster bilateral cooperation to enhance Vietnam's financial stability.

Vietnam's two asset management entities will be able to better manage shaky debts, he added, ensuring financial soundness of the country.

They are Debt and Asset Trading Corp. (DATC) and Vietnam Asset Management Corp. (VAMC)

The finance ministry-supervised DATC was established in 2003, for effective settlement of non-performing loans. It manages and organizes distressed assets of state-owned enterprises.

The VAMC is under the supervision of the country's central bank with similar responsibilities.