Sacombank sets to achieve 110.6 million USD in pre-tax profit in 2020

HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Shareholders of Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank) approved the bank’s financial statements for last year, a number of targets for this year, profit distribution plans and other important proposals at its annual general meeting held online on June 5.

Pham Van Phong, the bank’s permanent vice chairman, said Sacombank had achieved positive performances in most areas of operation in 2019.

Its profit before tax increased by 43.2 percent to 3.2 trillion VND (137.5 million USD), 21.4 percent higher than the target.

Its return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE) were 0.57 percent and 9.56 percent, up 0.11 percentage points and 0.28 percentage points year-on-year.

Earning per share was 1,119 VND, an increase of 338 VND from 2018.

Its total assets at the end of 2019 were worth over 453.58 trillion VND (19.4 billion USD), an increase of 11.7 percent during the course of the year.

It had total deposits of over 414 trillion VND and loans outstanding of over 296.4 trillion VND, year-on-year increases of 11.9 percent and 15.3 percent.

Its non-performing loans ratio declined by 0.22 percentage points to 1.9 percent, meeting the target of below 2 percent.

For 2020 the bank targets increases of 10 percent in total assets and deposits and 11 percent in outstanding loans.

It targets profit before tax of 2.57 trillion VND (110.6 million USD) and non-performing loans of under 3 percent.

Explaining why the bank set a lower profit target for this year, Nguyen Duc Thach Diem, its CEO, said the COVID-19 pandemic had affected the global economy, including Vietnam’s.

“Sacombank has received petitions from customers to restructure and reduce interest rates on total loans of nearly 25 trillion VND. This is a large number, and if (we) lower interest rates by 1-2 percentage points, the bank’s profits will reduce.”

In case the epidemic is well controlled, the bank would make every effort to achieve profits equal to that of 2019 of over 3.2 trillion VND, she said.

Despite difficulties, the bank achieved impressive growth in the first five months of the year, with its profit before tax topping 1.3 trillion VND, higher than in the same period last year and equalling 50 percent of the year’s target, and a bad debts ratio at 2 percent.

Duong Cong Minh, the chairman, said 2019 was the third year of restructuring and the bank recorded many important achievements and has gradually regained its position in the market.

"The roadmap for the restructuring project is over 10 years, but with such good results, we believe that by 2023 Sacombank will return to the position of one of the leading banks in Vietnam."

Speaking about dividends, he said the bank’s board of directors had sought the State Bank of Vietnam’s approval for paying dividends, but had yet to receive reply.

“The bank has accumulated profits of more than 4 trillion VND. Banking is a conditional business sector, and so the bank can only pay dividends to shareholders if it gets approval from the SBV. On behalf of shareholders we will continue to petition the SBV on this issue.”

Sacombank has 570 transaction points in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia./.