PRESS DIGEST - Vietnam newspapers - Sept 5

HANOI, Sept 5 | Sun Sep 4, 2011

HANOI, Sept 5 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Monday . Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

FINANCIAL NEWS:

THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM

-- Vinacomin, Vietnam's top coal miner, said the country's January-August coal consumption rose 20 percent from the same period last year to 18.4 million tonnes.

LAO DONG

-- Saigon Hanoi Bank said it would lend 3.8 trillion dong ($182.48 million) to small and medium companies at interest rates of 17-18 percent per year from Sept 5.

SAIGON GIAI PHONG

-- Vietinbank will open a branch Frankfurt this week, becoming the first Vietnamese bank to have a presence in Europe. The bank is targeting the 200,000 Vietnamese residents in Germany, said Pham Huy Hung, Vietinbank's chairman.

TUOI TRE

-- Former chairman of the National Financial Supervisory Committee Le Duc Thuy proposed raising the compulsory reserve ratio to 10 percent and lending the stockpiled money at 14 percent to banks facing shortages of liquidity to reduce lending interest rates.

ECONOMIC AND GENERAL NEWS:

LAO DONG

-- The top 20 cashew exporters have agreed to form a cashew corporation with registered capital of 100 billion dong ($4.8 million), said the Vietnam Cashew Association. Military Bank will allocate 2 trillion dong to the corporation to stockpile 30,000 tonnes from farmers for processing.

(Reporting by Hanoi Newsroom)