IBK became Vietnam's 10th wholly foreign-owned bank after a nine-year approval process

The record holds one timing figure for the approval, and it is a large one: nine years, or 108 months ^[10]. Set it against the other end of the file and the proportions are plain. From the State Bank of Vietnam's final approval in April to full operations on Sept. 25 ^[2] was about five months ^[11]. The Hanoi ceremony on the 13th ^[3], attended by State Bank of Vietnam Deputy Governor Pham Quang Dung ^[4], came 18 days after operations began ^[9].

We think "slow" is established and "selective" is plausible but not yet shown. Seoul Economic Daily reported that licensing for foreign banks has tightened as the Vietnamese government pushes ahead with restructuring its domestic banking sector ^[12], and both that paper and the Korea Herald count IBK as the 10th ^[5][1]. Ten is a short list. But ten names and a single nine-year file do not make an approval rate. With no count of how many foreign banks applied or were refused, and nothing on whether IBK's file waited on the regulator or on the applicant, at least three readings fit: a regulator rationing entry, a restructuring that froze filings from every applicant for a stretch, or a slow file at IBK's end. Only the first makes Vietnam selective in the sense of picking among applicants, and a faster approval for another foreign bank during the same restructuring would count against it.

IBK has run branches in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and cites more than 60 years of policy financing for small and midsize enterprises ^[6]. The stronger evidence for slow is that a lender with branches in both cities still waited nine years ^[1].

Park Kyung-il, the subsidiary's first chief executive, framed the licence as a continuation. "The launch of IBK Bank Vietnam marks a new starting point for the localization strategy we have pursued since establishing the Ho Chi Minh City branch in 2008," he said ^[8]. He added: "We will develop into a solid local bank that grows together with the Vietnamese economy." ^[8] IBK did not disclose the subsidiary's capital or a lending target, so how much it is committing to that aim cannot be checked.