VietinBank profits surge 83 pct
VietinBank, Vietnam’s third largest bank by asset, has reported an 83 percent increase in pre-tax profits to almost VND11.5 trillion ($495 million) in 2019.
Its chairman, Le Duc Tho, said at a forum on Tuesday that assets rose 6.5 percent to VND1,240 trillion ($53.29 billion). Its bad debts ratio was under 1.2 percent, down from 1.59 percent in 2018.
Credit growth during the year was 7.2 percent.
The bank targets 6-8 percent growth in assets this year, 8-10 percent credit growth and an increase in pre-tax profits of 10 percent. It seeks to keep bad debts under 2 percent.
Le Minh Hung, Governor of State Bank of Vietnam, said the government has approved capitalizing of VietinBank’s 2017 and 2018 profits.
The lender has been seeking to increase its charter capital in the last few years, but Tho said profits would only meet a third of the increase it plans and needs government approval to hike its capital through other means.
Vietinbank, in which the government owns 65 percent, has not increased its capital of VND37.23 trillion ($1.62 billion) since 2014.