Techcombank expects profit growth

Vietnam’s largest private lender Techcombank targets an increase of 25 percent in this year’s pre-tax profits to a record VND19.8 trillion ($858 million).

It expects credit to grow by 12 percent. Profits rose by 23 percent last year to VND15.8 trillion.

It has undistributed profits of VND26.7 trillion, which it plans to use to fund operations. It has not paid dividends for the last 10 years.

In a year when businesses struggled to repay loans due to the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak, the lender saw provisions for bad debts triple to VND2.66 trillion.

Meanwhile, the bank’s board is seeking shareholders’ permission to make Ho Anh Ngoc, a brother of chairman Ho Hung Anh, a director.

Ngoc, 39, has a doctorate in economics from Macquarie University in Australia. He has held several positions in the bank since 2017 and is currently chairman of the bank’s southern representative board.