ANZ is pitching to service the corporate bond market in Vietnam, which is reopening after several slow years.
"The market has been very quiet over the last 2 1/2 years but ANZ has been one of the first banks to reactivate the market recently with a bond issue," Tareq Muhmood, the bank's chief executive for Vietnam, told The Australian.
"We are in discussions with a few other companies about their capital needs and we expect to be doing some more over the next few years.
"It is not going to come in a sudden rush but we are putting some more resources behind it and we are also talking to a lot of investors, such as insurance companies and fund managers, both in the region and from Europe and North America.
"We are starting to see more interest in Vietnam as a destination for investment. I expect this will be very important over the next few years."
Mr Muhmood was speaking after the ANZ board held a meeting in Hanoi this week to mark 20 years since the bank set up in Vietnam. The bank stepped up its exposure in the country in 2009 when it incorporated a local subsidiary.
The corporate bond market in Vietnam got off the ground after the country joined the World Trade Organisation in 2006 but it has been closed in recent years as the country's economic growth has slowed.
Vietnam has a young population of more than 90 million people but is still seen as one of the emerging markets of Southeast Asia.
Its economy has suffered from boom and bust cycles with a lot of initial foreign investment concentrated on speculative areas such as property.
Mr Muhmood said the Vietnamese economy was growing at about 5.5 per cent but it was a "two-speed economy", with the state-owned sector currently slowing down while the private sector was growing.
"The picture looks a little slower than it was a few years ago but the economy is readjusting itself to a more sustainable period of growth," he said.
"Over the last four to five years there has been a boom-bust approach to growth, but there is now discipline you are seeing from the authorities, who are very keen to keep the stability of the exchange rate and inflation and provide the environment for more longer-term decision making.
"The initial flow of investment that came into Vietnam was more speculative -- into real estate and equities -- from people trying to make a quick gain.
"But now you are seeing some real investment in manufacturing and supply chain."
