Banks report higher profits in H1

Hanoi (VNA) - Some banks have reported good business performance results in the first half of the year thanks to high credit growth.

Vietinbank reported a profit of 4.273 trillion VND (190.75 million USD) in the first six months, up 10.3 percent against the same period last year.

Vietinbank General Director Le Duc Tho said the bank’s total assets also increased nine percent to reach 850 trillion VND by the end of June.

“In the January-June period, the bank mobilised 780 trillion VND, up 9.6 percent, while its outstanding loans were worth 729 trillion VND, up 7.7 percent,” Tho said, adding that the bank’s return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE) by the end of June were 1.1 percent and 11.5 percent, against one percent and 10.3 percent, respectively, in the same period last year.

Vietcombank also announced that it earned nearly 4.2 trillion VND in pre-tax profits in H1, up 38 percent over the same period last year.

Vietcombank General Director Pham Quang Dung said that the H1 profits represented more than half of the target the bank had set for 2016.

As of June 30, deposits at Vietcombank reached 535.2 trillion VND, up 6.7 percent over the end of last year. Its outstanding loans totalled 437.6 trillion VND, increasing 10.8 percent over the end of 2015.

Dung said the bank maintained its leading position in the domestic market in terms of foreign currency and bank card services, while attaching special importance to international credit activities.

The bank saw progress in non-performing loan settlement and ensuring the capital adequacy ratio, Dung said.

Previously, BIDV had also announced its pre-tax profit of 3.6 trillion VND in H1, up 20 percent year-on-year. The surge was thanks to the high credit growth of 26 percent against the same period last year.

With a credit growth of 18 percent, TP Bank also reported a profit of 205 billion VND after making provision for risky loans.

In a recent survey conducted by the State Bank of Vietnam, commercial banks were also optimistic about prospects of their performance in the second half of this year. According to the survey, a total of 86.5 percent of the respondents expected better results in 2016 than last year, of which 29 percent anticipated ‘significant improvement’.

The total assets of commercial banks by the end of May rose 4.26 percent to touch 7,630 trillion VND (340.62 billion USD) against the end of last year.

According to the latest statistics provided by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), the assets also increased by 104 trillion VND, as compared with the previous month.

All commercial banks, except social policy banks, witnessed an increase in assets. Among them, State-owned commercial banks posted the largest increase of 58.6 trillion VND, with their assets valued at 3,400 trillion VND.

Joint-stock commercial banks came second, reporting an increase of 32 trillion VND to reach 3,000 trillion VND in assets by the end of May.

Only social policy banks saw a marginal decline of 1.2 trillion VND in assets in the period.

The central banks also reported that the charter capital of the entire banking system rose by 2.93 percent against the end of last year to touch nearly 595 trillion VND.

The capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of the banking system reportedly reached 12.68 percent by the end of May, down marginally from 12.76 percent at the end of April, but significantly higher than the secure level of nine percent stipulated by the central bank.

The ratio of short-term funds to medium and long-term loans at the end of May marginally rose to reach 31.42 percent from 31.22 percent in April.-VNA