The Bank of China (BoC) has agreed to cooperate with Vietnam's Southeast Asian Bank (Seabank) in international payments, including letters of credit (L/Cs).

The agreement looks set to boost the Vietnamese bank's L/C business, which rose sharply last year.

Chinese opportunities

Under the new agreement, BoC will transfer funds to the Chinese market for Seabank, as well as provide L/Cs and handle orders of payments in US dollars.

Seabank says China is a promising market for Vietnamese businesses, and in order to meet growing client demands the bank has had to establish relations with a major local bank like BoC.

Global reach

The two banks' cooperation agreement also aims to help Seabank, which is known locally as Dong Nam A Bank, to expand its service network and cooperation with other banks across the world.

BoC is one of China's four largest banks and among the 20 top banks in the world. In addition to its network throughout China, the bank operates in 28 other countries.

L/Cs increasing

In 2007, SeaBank's international payment sales increased by 213 per cent compared with 2006.

The value of the bank's import L/Cs last year reached more than 2 trillion Vietnamese Dong (around US$125,195 million), while income from fees increased in 2007 by 180 per cent over 2006.

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