HANOI: The Bank for Foreign Trade of Việt Nam (Vietcombank)’s pre-tax profit hit a record high of VNĐ8.2 trillion (US$361.76 million) in 2016, up 23.4 per cent against 2015. Nghiêm Xuân Thành, the bank’s chairman, shared the details last week at a meeting held to review the bank’s performance in 2016. Việt Nam’s largest bank by market capitalisation is also targeting a pre-profit figure of VNĐ9.2 trillion in 2017, 12 per cent higher than last year. Vietcombank also expects its total assets to rise by 11 per cent in 2017, while it has forecast that its credit growth and capital mobilisation will be 18 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively. The bank aims to keep its non-performing loans (NPLs) under 1.5 per cent.
At the meeting, Lê Minh Hưng, Governor of the State Bank of Việt Nam (SBV) told Vietcombank to focus on settling NPLs through mortgaged assets. Hưng said Vietcombank made significant achievements last year in settling bad debts, which has brought its bad debt ratio down to 1.45 per cent, but these settlements were mainly through provisions, which reduced the bank’s profits. Last year, Vietcombank spent around VNĐ8.2 trillion for provisions, equal to 121 per cent of its total NPLs. The Governor also instructed the bank to prioritise the completion of its restructuring project and determine its position in the region in the next five to 10 years. The bank will also have to take part in the restructuring of other ailing banks, but the Government would issue detailed policies to avoid it being affected because of it, Hưng said. Vietcombank must also implement administrative procedures more effectively so that it is easier in 2 017 for businesses to take its loans, the Governor said.
