Vietcombank achieved a record profit in 2017. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The Joint Stock Commercial Bank forForeign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) reported a pre-tax profit of more than 11trillion VND (482.5 million USD) in 2017.
This was a record pre-tax profit achieved by a Vietnamese bank,representing a rise of 32.9 percent during the same period in the previous yearand 16 percent higher than Vietcombank’s target.
Reporting at the bank’s 2018 business conference on January 12, VietcombankGeneral Director Pham Quang Dung said the results in 2017 were impressive andfar exceeded targets.
Total deposits last year amounted to 889.7 trillion VND, up by38.7 percent year on year and 18 percent above set target.
Vietcombank’s outstanding loans reached 553 trillion VND, anincrease of 17.2 percent.
Credit quality was under control, with the ratio of non-performingloans at 1.11 percent, a drop of 0.35 percentage points over the end of 2016.
The bank allocated more than 6.18 trillion VND for provisioninglast year.
Its trading of foreign currencies was worth 45.1 billion USD,rising by 27.2 percent, while transfer of remittances was worth 1.9 billion USD,up by 14.9 percent.
Speaking at the conference, Vietcombank ChairmanNghiem Xuan Thanh said the bank’s project to restructure and resolve bad debtsby 2020 was approved by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) earlier this week,targeted to develop Vietcombank into a leading bank in risk management in Vietnam,as well as to join the top 100 largest banks in Asia, and become one of theworld’s top 300 financial corporations.
The central bank also allowed Vietcombank tooffer shares to foreign investors in a private placement which, Thanh said, ifsuccessfully implemented in the first months of 2018 would be a positive sign.
Thanh added that last week Prime Minister NguyenXuan Phuc gave a green light to Vietcombank’s plan of opening a subsidiary inLaos.
On January 8, Vietcombank announced that itwould complete the developmentof the probability of default (PD) model in accordance with Basel 2.
With the PD model, Vietcombank was getting ready to apply Basel 2,following an advanced internal ratings-based approach.
Vietcombank was the largest among listed banks by capitalisation,with its share traded at 58,800 VND each on January 12 morning and a marketcapitalisation of nearly 10 billion USD.
SBV Governor Le Minh Hung said at the conference that Vietnam’s foreignexchange reserve reached a record high of 54.5 billion USD as of January 12.
This would help consolidate business confidence and attractforeign investors, Hung said.
In the first ten days of 2018, the foreign exchange reserve roseby 1.5 billion USD.
Since early 2016, when a fixed exchange rate regime wasapplicable, the central bank bought a net value of 22 billion USD.-VNA
VNA
