HANOI: Crossing the street in this city is best done with closed eyes and a prayer that the tidal wave of motorcycles will swerve to avoid you.

The Vietnamese are a kind people, so your chances are good. But Nguyen Van Giau, the countrys central bank governor, needs to be less than kind to deal with another overwhelming phenomenon: applications for banking licenses.

Giau, 50, is facing a record 46 submissions, of which 22 are domestic applications and 24 are from foreign entities. His affable nature is being tested by requests from organizations as diverse as Vietnam Seafood Corp., a state-owned enterprise, and the province of Binh Duong, which has a population of fewer than 1 million.

What is attractive are the perceived easy pickings in Vietnamese banking: The economy is booming, credit is growing more than 40 percent a year, and there are insufficient goods in the shops to satisfy demand.

But not everyone can have a license. So how will Giau resist all these demands? A close relationship with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, himself a former governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, should help. He can also draw on 20 years of experience in commercial banking - he was chief executive of the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development - and five years as a local Communist Party official. Political knowledge and influence is imperative in a country that, according to the Communist Party of Vietnam, is run as a “market economy with a socialist orientation.”

Under the World Trade Organization obligations that Vietnam assumed along with membership in 2006, the country is loosening restrictions on foreign banks so that by 2010 no regulatory distinction will be drawn between them and their local competitors. The restrictions have kept the 39 foreign banks in Vietnam confined to niche markets, but in April the central bank gave five foreign banks permission to apply to incorporate locally.

One of the lucky five, the Australian bank ANZ, is hoping to add another 10 branches to its current two in 2008. But ANZs Vietnam country head, Thuy Dam, said he feared that state-owned enterprises would use their political muscle to keep the new banks from cutting into their 60 percent market share.

Over sweet strawberry tea in the formal visitors reception room of the central bank building - the 1920s-era former headquarters of the Banque de lIndochine - Giau was adamant: “I will firmly say no to pressure on the central bank to limit the branches of foreign banks to create advantages for state-owned banks.”

Giau, a father of one who took office in August, is also facing a brimming in-box of proposals for modernizing the financial system. Ben Bingham, senior resident representative in Vietnam for the International Monetary Fund, outlined the issues facing the central bank, including “the role of exchange rate policy in the face of large capital inflows, the role of monetary policy and how best to conduct it,” and “how to safeguard financial sector stability.” The central bank is drafting legislation to present to the government next year.

There is another burning issue: inflation, which was 8.1 percent in the first ten months of this year. Any increase in interest rates is anathema to the Vietnamese government, which is aware that the countrys economic growth of more than 8 percent a year in the past two years still does not match that of its neighbor China. The central banks inflation target for 2007 is 8.5 percent or lower, although Giau acknowledged that the rate could be higher if oil continued to climb.

Booming credit growth and a build-up of nonperforming loans is another major issue confronting Giau.

He has told the board of the state-owned Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam to monitor credit quality closely - an admonition he has been repeating to all banks. He has also told them to improve their technology to introduce cashless payments as part of the modernization initiative.

As of next year, helmets will be obligatory on motorbikes. Giau may be well advised, for his own protection, to purchase one immediately.

Karina Robinson is senior editor of The Banker. This article is adapted from her monthly column.

February 26, 2008 — The former CEO of The Children’s Place, who is angling to buy the kids’ apparel retailer, has filed a complaint demanding the company move up its annual meeting.

Ezra Dabah, who was ousted last September after an internal probe found he had violated company rules on securities trades, wants The Children’s Place to hold its annual meeting no later than April 4.

Dabah - a 17.2 percent stakeholder in the company - and private-equity firm Golden Gate have asked the board to consider a formal bid of $24 a share. He has hired Bear Stearns as his financial adviser.

Earlier this month, The Children’s Place set the board meeting for June 27. Noting that the company’s last annual meeting was held in June 2006, Dabah said in a securities filing that “there is no reason to delay the annual meeting for another four months.”

The reason for the delay, however, is obvious, according to sources close to the situation, who said The Children’s Place is avoiding answering Dabah’s request for permission to bid on the company.

In his latest filing, Dabah said that if the board refuses to grant its permission for the bid, it is “effectively depriving itself of the opportunity to review and consider, on behalf of the company’s stockholders, a premium offer to acquire the company.”

Sources close to the situation say the board is fearful that Dabah’s $24 bid is a low-ball offer that’s well below historic highs for the stock.

The Children’s Place shares, rose 3 percent, or 63 cents, to $21.38 in Nasdaq trading yesterday.

February 26, 2008 — For the longest time, Jeff Bezos has been the lowest paid billionaire around - just $81,840 a year - so it was surprising he suddenly took a $135.4 million payday last week, his biggest ever.

Some investors got rattled to see the frugal Amazon founder cash out after years of clinging to his pot of stock. Traders sent shares sliding 5 percent last week after the stock-sale filing, fearing that something was up. But all was forgiven yesterday when Amazon shares returned to their respectable highs, rising nearly 2 percent to $73.27, up $1.19 - making Bezos worth nearly $7.3 billion on his remaining shares.

Some investors think he may have just been weary of measly pay. And since he controls about a quarter of the company, he deserved to reward himself following his 44th birthday last month.

Bezos cashed out 1.85 millions shares, or about 2 percent of his holdings, at an average price of $73.21. He hasn’t sold any shares since November 2004. At that time, the stock was selling at about half of yesterday’s price, and he realized just $35.8 million on selling his 950,000 shares.

Analysts say that the most prominent thing “up” at Amazon is demand for its popular wireless electronic reader the Kindle, which has been out of stock most days, forcing Bezos to acquire its manufacturer, Audible, to boost output.

Amazon sales in the fourth quarter jumped 42 percent and profit soared 112 percent.

Some compensation watchers marvel that the Princeton marketing major, who revolutionized shopping with his online emporium, has always insisted that he never get a cash salary above $81,840.

He doesn’t take stock awards or options, either. His only other compensation listed in filings is an annual $1.2 million for his personal security.