The results show that the overall competitiveness of these banks is higher, compared to the pre-crisis period of 2008–2009. The monopolistic competition among them are also found, together with certain improvements in bank competitiveness, observed through increased bank size, enhanced human resources quality, better technological advances, and higher levels of managerial skills in compliance with international standards. | Nguyen Thanh Phong / Journal of Economic Development 23(1) 77-101 77 Competitiveness of Vietnam’s Financial Institutions in the Global Financial Market: The case of Vietnam’s Commercial Banks NGUYEN THANH PHONG University of Economics HCMC – phongnt@ ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: Using panel data collected from financial statements of 28 commercial banks in Vietnam, this paper investigates their competitiveness through an analysis of such a few elements as bank size, technological level, human resources quality, and managerial level. For a more objective evaluation the paper employs the Panzar–Rosse (P–R) model along with the use of some common econometrical techniques like Pooled OLS, FEM, REM, GLS, and H-statistic. The results show that the overall competitiveness of these banks is higher, compared to the pre-crisis period of 2008–2009. The monopolistic competition among them are also found, together with certain improvements in bank competitiveness, observed through increased bank size, enhanced human resources quality, better technological advances, and higher levels of managerial skills in compliance with international standards. Received: Dec. 15 2014 Received in revised form: Dec. 25 2015 Accepted: Dec. 30 2015 Keywords: Commercial banks, bank size, bank competitiveness, P–R model. Nguyen Thanh Phong / Journal of Economic Development 23(1) 77-101 78 1. Introduction Integration among Vietnam’s banking institutions is perceived as both an opportunity of commercial banks’ access to modern technologies for improving their performance, and a challenge amid increasingly fierce competition. When the legal barriers were removed along with each free trade agreement such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement or the ASEAN Economic Community Agreement (AEC), these events would pose greater challenges to the banking system since the signing of numerous international trade agreements is often associated with more penetration of .
