Vietnam

After being chosen by the Cambodian government to facilitate tax payments, Acleda Bank's ATMs will now receive electricity payments in behalf of the Electricité du Cambodge. EDC is a state-owned limited liability company to generate, transmit, and distribute electric power through-out the Kingdom of Cambodia. Acleda Bank Plc. has deployed 62 ATMs and plan to deploy 105 ATMs more before the end of 2009 in response to the requirements and servicing to clients and public including customers of EDC. "ACLEDA Bank has a wide branch network connected by modern telecommunications systems and is well established in the country, especially in Phnom Penh and Kandal province with deploying ATMs to provide services for 24 hours in 7 days per week. Furthermore, the using of commercial banking system to manage the payment transactions of using electric power is designed to enhance the financial accountability of EDC with effectiveness," said H.E Keo Ratanak, Royal Government of Cambodia Delegate in Charge of Managing EDC, on why they selected Acleda Bank to receive payments in its behalf. President and CEO of ACLEDA Bank Plc., Mr. In Channy, said that "ACLEDA Bank Plc. is proud in receiving confidence and being selected by EDC to provide payment services of using electric power through Acleda Bank's ATM after ACLEDA Bank has been selected by the Ministry of Economy and Finance for providing banking services on national revenue and expense transactions in June."

In 1986, Vietnam's Sixth Party Congress initiated the country's first broad economic reform package that introduced guidelines for expansion, laying a vitally needed foundation for a vastly improved investment climate. For the next eleven years things improved dramatically, with investment pouring in until the "Great Melt-Down of 1997" which caused a re-think in Hanoi as the GDP growth dropped from a steamy 8 - 9% to a still respectable 6% from 1997 to 2004. The economic landslide of 1997 was for more painful in the region's more advanced economies. Vietnam had a lower height to fall from and had still retained its "flavour of the month" attraction through ASEAN is recovery period. Throughout this dicey half decade the Vietnam leadership continued their commitment to economic liberalization and international integration. In 2001 they joined ASEAN and AFTA. That year (in December) they signed off on the U.S. - Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement resulting in an astonishing 900% rise in exports to the U.S. from 2001 to 2007 and making the U.S.A. their most important trading partner by the year (2007) they joined the WTO. Today, the country is moving forward at a healthy 7.8% per annum with a poverty reduction trackrecord better than China, India and the Philippines (based on the "Deep Poverty" definition of the percentage of population living under one US$ dollar per day). 12 million land lines and 36 million mobile phones are in use, connecting 86 million people. Ford's "Haiduong" assembly plant's production of their Mondeo, Focus, Everest, Escape SUV's and Ranger Pickups is doing for Ford in Vietnam what the ubiquitous "Buick" lines does for General Motors in China.

With a rapid economic growth (GDP projected to grow at about 8 to 9 percent during 2006-2010), the power demand in Vietnam is forecast to grow at an average of 16 percent per year during the next five years. During the January 2008 to May 2008 period, the national consumption surged by 19 percent, with the southern region (home to the country's industrial hub), jumping 28 percent, up from an average growth of nearly 14 percent in the same period of 2007.