Creditors expect strong business performance in 2016

Hanoi (VNA) – Many credit institutions are optimistic about their business this year thanks to a growing economy and the ability of businesses to take loans.

This was stated in a survey of credit institutions released by the State Bank of Vietnam this week.

Based on last year's achievement, 93 percent of the surveyed institutions said their business performance this year would be better than 2015, while 32 percent of them expected "a much better result".

Eighty-one percent said their performance in 2015 was an improvement over the previous year, with 34 percent of them saying the improvement was "significant".

More than 90 percent of the institutions said risks from all their customer groups this year would remain at a safe level as in late 2015, and would even fall further.

The risks have reduced since late 2015, compared with 2014, with the highest reduction being seen among economic organisations, followed by the personal customer group.

The demand for banking services, especially for borrowing, is expected to increase further this year after last year's growth. According to the institutions, the best improvement in 2015 was in the demand for banking services as well as the business and financial conditions of customers.

Liquidity and the handling of non-performing loans (NPLs) of the credit institutions are also expected to be more positive in 2016.

NPLs at the institutions decreased sharply in 2015, with 90 percent of them reporting loans under 3 percent. Only some finance and finance leasing companies reported their NPLs remained higher than 3 percent.

Liquidity in terms of the Vietnamese dong and foreign currencies of the entire banking system this year will also be abundant. Despite rising capital demand as the Lunar New Year approaches, 55 percent of the surveyed said they believed their liquidity level would continue to be good.

The institutions said the growth of capital mobilisation of the entire banking system would be an average 17.46 percent this year, compared with 14.35 percent anticipated for 2015 as forecast in the same survey in late 2014.

Outstanding loans will also rise to 21.4 percent on average, much higher than the 14.57 percent forecast in the same survey in late 2014.

Thanks to the growth, the labour demand of the credit institutions is also expected to increase this year.

Under the survey, 64.2 percent of the institutions said that they would recruit more people in 2016, with 50 percent saying the recruitment would be made right in the first quarter to allow them to seize new opportunities.

Fifty-two per cent of the institutions increased their labour workforce in 2015, as compared with the previous year.-VNA