More on Vietnam

A recent arrest of one of the top bankers in Vietnam is identified as the catalyst of recent swoon in the price of VNM. "Then came news of the arrest of two noteworthy Vietnamese banking scions, headlines that dealt a blow to investor confidence in the country's banking system. What is ironic is that Vietnam is a former French colony and it is the French that have a term for these kind of unforeseen events. 'Force majeure,' or act of God, is arguably not an exaggeration when comes to the impact recent events in Vietnam have had on VNM. The arrest of tycoon Nguyen Duc Kien, one of the founders of the Asia Commercial Bank, has struck fear in the hearts of investors that previously had not been shy about embracing VNM or Vietnamese equities." Read more: http://www.minyanville.com/sectors/emerging-markets/articles/investing-in-vietnam-vietnam-ETF-ETFs/8/29/2012/id/43611#ixzz26H2Na9Fl Yet the banking sector remains strong. "What is lost amid all the negativity now surrounding Vietnamese financials is that the country's banks had $575 million in excess cash as of mid-April." Thus the banks are very well capitalized and there has been no major economic policy changes. The author is still very optimistic on Vietnam and looks at this as a great entry point for Vietnam.