Internship Report at military bank - dien bien phu branch

TABLE OF CONTENTS
2
PREFACE
International payment activities in banking system have currently played a more
and more important role in the external economy affair. With the help of
international payment tools, economic and commercial relationships among
international business partners have been enhanced across the world, expanded
export import credit as large volume of international transaction has made
significantly every single second time.
Acknowledging this major role of international payment methods, Military
Commercial Joint – Stock Bank, which is the leading commercial bank in Vietnam
has made a strong focus on its international settlement department to help the
foreign trade transactions completed as quickly and smoothly as possible.
Therefore, writer decided to choose Military Commercial Bank as the place for
internship. After a five – week time as an intern in the back office of Military Bank -
Dien Bien Phu Branch, the writer got to know the real working environment and
have a general idea of procedures in the banking service. The purpose of this report
is to explain what the intern did and learnt during internship period (July 1
st
, 2013
till July 31
th
, 2013). The structure of this report is designed in three parts:
Part 1: Overview of Military Commercial Bank and Dien Bien Phu Branch
Part 2: Analysis of difficulties at the branch from observation
Part 3: Comment and conclusion
In this paper, the writer would like to send great thanks to Vice Professor Dr.
Trinh Thi Thu Huong – vice president of Faculty of Economics and International
Business, who has given enthusiastic instruction for the writer; to Ms. Huyen, Mrs.
Thu and Ms. Lien who directly instructed the writer for their gracious help of
creating opportunities and good conditions for the writer to take part in several

activities during this time.
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LIST OF ABBREVIATION
Abbreviation Meaning
L/C Letter of Credit
MB Military Commercial Joint - Stock Bank
T/T Telegraphic Transfer
LIST OF TABLES AND DIAGRAM
Table 1.1 Fundamental information of Military Commercial Bank…………….p. 08
Table 1.2 MB’s business performance 2010 - 2011 (VND billion)…………… p.10
Diagram 1.1 Organizational structure of MB Dien Bien Phu branch p.11
4
INTERNSHIP DIARY
Date Tasks
Week 1 (July, 1
st
– July, 5
th
) Letter of Credit
1
- Learnt about Dien Bien Phu Branch’s organizational
structure and working environment.
- Learnt how to scan B/W or color, use photocopy machine
- Read 4 sales contracts and 4 applications and required
documents for opening L/C
2
- Observed Ms.Thư checked customers’ account balance and
made a minute of hand-over documents for customers.
- Presented 1 documents to be signed by the Head of
Credit Support Department

3
- Observed Ms. Thư amended telegram of L/C to be opened
and updated received document database ( which date and
time, customer’s code, currency)
- Double - checked L/C document preparation of customers
- Presented 3 documents to be signed by the Head of Credit
Support Department.
4 - To be given permission of having a day off
5
- Observed Ms. Thư corrected application for irrevocable
L/C for customers, updated request of L/C payment and
entered the transaction into accounts.
Week 2 ( July, 8
th
– July, 12
th
) Telegraphic transfer
8
- Double – checked to see whether all important information
in telegram paper and notification of money transfer are
exactly matched.
- Arranged documents (telegram, application for money
transfer, money transferring statement)
- Photocopy documents
9
- Double - checked documents upon 2 criteria: accuracy
(including red stamp and authentic signature) and
adequacy.
- Observed Ms. Lien checked customer’s account balance
- Presented telegraphic transfer application to be signed

initially by the Head of Credit Support Department.
10
- Scanned black and white payment orders for storage in
database
- Arranged documents
- Double – checked to see whether all important information
in telegram paper and notification of money transfer are
exactly matched.
11 - Presented telegraphic transfer applications to be signed
initially by the Head of Credit Support Department.
5
- Observed Ms. Lien checking customer’s account balance
and updating collected documents database
- Classified documents
12 - To be given permission of having a day off
Week 3 ( July, 15
th
– July, 19
th
) Credit
15
- Observed Ms. Thu making a request paper of removing
mortgage of land use right and property connected to land
transference
- Observed Ms. Thu received documents for checking
accuracy then double – checked them.
16
- Scan documents for storage
- Photocopy documents
17

- Observed Ms. Thu making a request paper of removing
mortgage of land use right and property connected to land
transference
- Photocopy papers.
18 - Double-check financial confirmation reports
19 - To be given permission of having a day off
Week 4 ( July, 22
th
– July, 26
th
)
22
- Observed Ms. Thu made a minute of hand-over documents
for customers and updated collected document database
- Presented documents to be signed by the Head of Credit
Support Department
23 - To be given permission of having a day off
24
- Double - checked customers’ applications for L/C
- Scanned notification
- Arranged payment L/C applications and photocopy
documents.
25
- Observed Ms. Thư amended telegram of L/C to be opened
and updated received document
- Double - checked L/C document preparation for customers
- Presented 3 documents to be signed by the Head of Credit
Support Department.
26
- Double – checked to see whether all important information

in telegram paper and notification of money transfer are
exactly matched.
- Arranged and photocopy documents (telegram, application
for money transfer, money transferring statement)
Week 5 ( July, 29
th
- July, 31
th
)
29
- Scanned black and white payment orders for storage in
database
- Arranged documents (telegram, application for money
transfer, money transferring statement)
30 - Arranged documents
6
- Arranged payment L/C applications.
31
- Presented telegraphic transfer applications to be signed
initially by the Head of Credit Support Department.
- Double – checked to see whether all information in
telegram paper and notification of money transfer are
exactly matched.
I - INTRODUCTION OF MB – DIEN BIEN PHU BRANCH
1.1 Introduction of Military Commercial Bank
1.1.1 Fundamental information
Table 1.1 Fundamental information of Military Commercial Bank
Bank’s name Ngân hàng Thương mại cổ phần Quân Đội
Bank’s name in English Military Commercial Joint- Stock Bank
Name abbreviation MB

Logo
Chartered capital VND 10,000,000,000,000 (Ten thousand
billion Vietnam Dong)
Headquarters No. 21 Cat Linh Street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi
Telephone (84 - 4) 4 6277 7222
Email
Fax (84 - 4) 4 6266 1080
Website www.mbbank.com.vn
(Source: www.mbbank.com.vn)
Business registration certificate No.: 0100283873 by Hanoi Agency for
Planning and Investment. Initial issuance: September 30, 1994.
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The 27th amendment: December 31, 2010. License No.0054/NH-GP issued
on September 14, 1994 in conjunction with Decision 194/QĐ - NH5 on September
14, 1994 by the State Bank of Vietnam.
1.1.2 History and development
Initially established to provide various financial services for military
corporations, MB was founded on November 4, 1994 under Business Registration
Certificate No.0100283873 issued on September 30, 1994 by Hanoi Department for
Planning and Investment and Banking License No.0054/NH-GP issue on September
14, 1994 by the State Bank of Vietnam.
Over the last 19 years, MB has continued to grow rapidly and aimed to
become a holding corporation, with MB (one of Vietnam’s top commercial joint
stock banks) as the parent company, and five subsidiaries, demonstrating
themselves as widely recognized brand name in the financial services (including
banking, insurance and securities) and the real estate service in Vietnam. With its
broad variety of service and product offerings, MB has experienced robust growth,
expanding its operations into new branches of the service that reach beyond its
traditional market. During the last six years, MB has consistently been rated in the
“A” category by the State Bank of Vietnam, the most prestigious category for banks

according to SBV’s ranking.
From a mere VND 20 billion of chartered capital at establishment, mainly
contributed by the founding shareholders and 25 employees, today MB’s chartered
capital has increased by 500 times to VND 10,000 billion. MB now has tens of
thousands of shareholders and over 4,000 employees and staff members (the figure
is over 4,620 if taking into account those from all of MB’s subsidiaries). MB has
proved to have solid financial capacity and a vigorous competitive position. The
bank’s total assets have witnessed rapid growth, reaching VND 175,610 billion as of
June 30, 2012. Today, MB is one of the top domestic commercial joint stock banks
in terms of both total assets and chartered capital.
8
1.1.3 Business performance in recent years
Table 1.2 MB’s business performance from 2010 to 2011 (VND billion)
2010 2011 2012
Total assets 109,623 138,831 175,610
Capital mobilizing
from economic
organizations and
individuals
65,741 89,581 117,747
Total outstanding
loans
48,797 59,045 74,479
Profit before tax 2,288 2,625 3,090
(Source: MB’s financial statement 2010 -2012)
1.2 Overview of Dien Bien Phu Branch
In June 2005, the MB’s headquarter office moved from 28A Dien Bien Phu St.
to 21 Lieu Giai St. Since then, Military Bank’s Dien Bien Phu branch was turned
into class I branch, formerly the Bank's Head Office. MB’s Dien Bien Phu branch
acts as an independent accounting unit and operates to enhance development and

reputation of the Military Commercial Joint – Stock bank.
MB’s Dien Bien Phu Branch is the largest branch which has 4 transactional
offices located in Ly Nam De St., Nguyen Bieu St., Giang Vo St., and Hoang Cau
St. It has been under control of Military Commercial Joint- Stock Bank.
1.2.1 Main business activities
 Engage in commercial banking activities in accordance with regulations
issued by the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam;
 Engage in provision of derivatives products in accordance with legal
regulations;
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 Act as an agent for insurance and other related services in accordance with
legal regulations;
 Engage in trading bonds and other valuable papers in accordance with
legal regulations and
 For business activities that are subject to special licensing, the Bank only
engages in these businesses when it meets conditions as specified by legal
regulations.
1.2.2 Organizational structure
By the end of July, 2013, the total number of employees in MB’s Dien Bien
Phu Branch has reached 150. Its organizational structure is depicted as the following
table:
Diagram 1.1 Organizational structure of MB Dien Bien Phu branch
Director of Branch
10
(Source />2 - ANALYSIS OF DIFFCULITIES AT THE BRANCH FROM
OBSERVATION
Vice - DirectorVice - Director
Enterprise
Customer
Relation

Department
Individual
Customer
Relation
Department
Administration
& Human
Resources
Accounting
Department
Enterprise
Credit
International
Payment
11
2.1 Current situation
The first difficulty at the branch is that they have separated locations of two
departments. At Dien Bien Phu Branch, there have been two teams are working and
co-operating simultaneously. One team is called “Customer Relation Department”,
which is the front office deals with all individual and enterprise customers, is at the
branch, 28A Dien Bien Phu St.; and the other is called “Support Credit
Department”, who supports for the former team, is located 38 Dien Bien Phu St.
regarding to handle all paperwork procedures and check documents thoroughly
before submitting them to the Head Office. Due to those characteristics, activities of
two those departments are extremely inter-connected, so that there are always lots of
interaction processes between two teams per day. For example, in L/C opening
procedure, upon receiving the buyer's application in the front office, the credit
supporting team checks the credit of the applicant and the contents of the
application as well to see whether they generally are consistent with national and
international banking and legal requirements or not. If the application is satisfactory

to the bank, the buyer and the issuing bank, i.e, MB will sign an agreement to open
a documentary credit. The credit must be written and signed without delay by an
authorized person of the bank in front office team. Then, customers’ applications are
allowed to be transferred to the Head Office for processing. However, due to limited
space, the support credit team’s office room is located far from the front office 500
meter away. Therefore, it takes time for required documents to be presented and
signed by vice – director of the branch in the front office.
Let’s take another example in T/T procedure to see how it goes with this
difficulty, let’s say a staff has been receiving a application then checking customers’
accounts. All is proper. After getting the Head’s initial signature in the back office at
38 Dien Bien Phu St., staff from back office is required to get immediately vice –
director’s signature whose office is currently at 28A Dien Bien Phu St. So, it takes
lots of his time and effort to walk here and there back and forth due to huge amount
of paper needs to be approved per day. In this case, we even have not mentioned to
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other problems in reality such as customer does not provide enough and proper
required documents or staff makes mistakes which have not been discovered by
anyone yet until the boss figures out in composing documents so he has to begin all
over again.
Another difficulty the writer witnessed at the branch during internship is
computer’s operating rate is noticeably slow. It is the fact that when processing
more than 5 files, computer is possibly over – loaded then frozen up at that moment.
Furthermore, it often appears a window displaying expired date of anti-virus
software which is likely to distract the staff’s full concentration on work.
Sometimes, the rate of internet connection is rather slow as well.
Although MB’s headquarter was moved to a new building at No. 21 Cat Linh
Street for a year, it’s official website has not been updated this information and
neither does the list of branch network all over a whole country. Furthermore, the
official website has not updated representative telephone number of each
department. This is probably a common mistake of majority of commercial banks in

Vietnam.
2.2 Consequences
The problem of having two separated locations has been leading to the fact
that is, rate of work progress is procrastinated, the bank’s commitment to providing
high quality service for customers can not be made punctually. Walking back and
forth between two locations for a signature without delay when needed is certainly
time – consuming for staff, especially in finance and banking service since, to some
extent, time is money.
In the case of authorized person is not presented or available at the branch to
review thoroughly then sign documents for approval, or of staff’s mistakes such as
misprint, paperwork missing, those troubles usually cause slow document motion
over time, leading to procrastinated work – flow, delaying customer’s work and
staffs are likely to work late hours. For example, application for opening L/C, for
13
L/C payment and other important documents would not be signed immediately.
Because it took lots of time and effort of the back officers to walk back and forth
between the branch and the back office for correcting mistakes, or he may be
required to wait at the branch without knowing how much longer till the vice
director is available to sign documents. During that time, he cannot accomplish any
more work since his office is in ten blocks away.
Here comes one example to see how it affects customer’s work. Let’s say 3
persons from a Vietnamese company are participating in an exhibition in America to
meet up business partner and explore foreign market. During exhibition time, since
actual expenditure is beyond estimation, so they are in need of cash at once. Upon
receiving T/T application of their company, the staff walks 500 meter to the branch
to get vice – director signature; however, she is not available at that time, then the
staff is either wait without knowing how much longer until he can meet her or walk
back 500 meter to the office in order to finish his other work. It has definitely
caused time – consuming and slow document flow then customers are not able to
receive cash during the day. Therefore, customers would not have enough cash in

time to cover travelling and accommodation expenses during the course of business
trip, affecting negatively his work and trust to the bank’s branch.
Slow operating rate of computer and internet connection are likely to cause
distraction for the staff or even stress in a long time. Moreover, it also resulted in
slow document upload and process rate, causing to workflow might be delay for a
moment.
MB’s official website has not contained up–to –date information causing the
fact that customers will not be informed fully about its the latest banking services.
Therefore, to attract more additional customers or maintain loyal customers then the
bank could not help introducing latest services directly by telesales or giving gifts,
possibly leading to more expenses incurred and time - consuming for the bank.
More importantly, it is undeniable that banking service market is undoubtedly
14
fiercely competitive and customers are likely to be the most valuable asset of a
bank; therefore, if the bank is not able to attract customers’ attention then perhaps,
there will be a significant drop in its revenue.
2.3 Solutions
 Developing software for internal document motion network, including
review and sign documents online, fill the missing documents online in
order to avoid moving time between two departments.
 Digitalizing authorized persons’ signature so that persons who are in
charge can give approval to documents and applications online.
 Installing copyright anti –virus software, upgrade RAM, main board and
chip.
 Public relation and customer service departments are required to keep the
information of latest MB’s services or changes in services up – to – date.
 Upgrading to stable internet connection to facilitate document upload
rate.
3 - COMMENT AND CONCLUSION
3.1 Comment on internship period

Removing some limitations, this internship is relatively helpful. The reporter’s
internship program contains certain important advantages: to familiarize with some
basic office tasks and working business environment, to observe tasks &
responsibilities of the bankers, to understand how international transactions take
place and to have the idea about how communication among the staff and between
branch office and Head Office occur. In fact, Dien Bien Phu branch’s working
environment is fairly dynamic and professional.
3.1.1. Benefits
 Through this internship, the writer has seen what elements of her career she
prefers and got enthusiastic to continue in her major.
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 Slightly familiarized with entrepreneurial culture.
 Know how to use office equipments such as photocopy machine and scanner.
 Learn how to solve unexpected problems in working environment under
different circumstances.
 Understand more about banking procedures, especially international payment
field.
 Learn how to support customers in the way they would be satisfied the most.
3.1.2 Limitations
- As the officers are very busy with their daily work, they could provide very
little time. Limitation of internship period was one of the most important
factors that shortened the report. Due to time limitation many aspects could
not be discussed in the report.
- Confidentiality of data was another important barrier that was faced during
the conduct of this internship. Every organization has their own secrecy that
is not revealed to others, especially in banking service.
- Sufficient books, publications and figures were not available. If these
limitations were not been there, the report would have been added more
value.
- Despite of the fact that the reporter tried her best, she was restricted to be

given empirical tasks or even the supporting.
3.2 Suggestions for university
- In order to enhance student’s pro-active ability, the university lets students
contact with enterprises on their own; however, that’s possibly also the
reason why most of enterprises don’t have confidence in students’ capacity so
there would not so many chances for student gets involved in more tasks
rather than photocopying, scanning papers or presenting paper to obtain
signature and things like that. Therefore, the university should develop wider
networking with more enterprises to introduce students with internship
16
vacancy so that they probably allow students get involved directly in more
technical complexity details to some certain extent. In fact, in some
international universities, with the help of strong connection and close co-
operation between university and enterprises, university is able to catch what
enterprise’s requirements are in a fresh graduated student should be fit for
vacancies then, prepare and train students with relevant knowledge and skills.
In that way, after graduating from university, students have already been
oriented their working environment and fields and equipped with appropriate
knowledge and skills in order to meet employer’s demands to find a suitable
job, leading to a drop in unemployment rate, heading to a knowledge-based
economy in long term.
- The internship period is quite short resulted in observation and experiences
are limited. It can be considered to be slightly longer.
- The university should organize more career orientation seminars and invite
successful employees to be speakers, who are former FTU students to share
their working experiences, in order to help students familiarize with working
environment and culture to some extent and choose appropriate career path.
- Once the connection between the university and enterprises are fairly
strong, the university should provide enterprises about the update of
educational program information so that enterprises are able to organize

internship chances which are appropriate with the university’s program
content. Furthermore, the enterprises should give constructive feedback on
changes in FTU’s educational program, leading to improve educational and
training’s quality.
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3.3 Conclusion
It was a fantastic opportunity for the writer to do internship program in a
leading commercial organization like Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank.
Though practical exposure in MB’s Dien Bien Phu branch lasts for just five weeks,
it provides the reporter a wide range of scope to observe the faction of bank through
the pleasant assistance of its members. During the course of internship, the reporter
has learnt practical experiences regarding how to put knowledge learnt at university
into reality, to dress neatly and professionally, to be trained working style, to be
experienced working with official texts and documents, to behave with colleagues
and the ability to solve problems under different circumstances.
On the other hand, it is undeniable that some limitations which are slightly
short internship period, confidentiality of data, insufficient figure still existing. The
reporter also tries to analysis from observation some basic existing problems, some
of them are not addressed properly will resulted in serious consequences.
Once a strong connection between the bank and the university has been
established then MB is one the most favorable internship places for FTU’s students.
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REFERENCE
1. Edward G. Hinkelman, 2003, A Short Course in International Payments,
Second Edition, published by World Trade Press ©.
2. Annual report of Military Bank 2010, 2011 and 2012
3.
mau.aspx
4. />19
Cộng hoà xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam

Độc lập – Tự do – Hạnh phúc
Hà Nội, ngày 31 tháng 07 năm 2013
Nhận xét của đơn vị kiến tập
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ĐẠI DIỆN P. HỖ TRỢ TÍN DỤNG
NGÂN HÀNG TMCP QUÂN ĐỘI
CN ĐIỆN BIÊN PHỦ
Ngân hàng TMCP Quân Đội – Chi nhánh Điện Biên Phủ
28A Điện Biên Phủ, Ba Đình, Hà Nội, ĐT: (84-4) 3823 2883, Fax: (84-4)3823 3335
SWIFT Code: MSCBVNVX
Email: – Website: www.mbbank.com.vn