VPBank eyes $1B profit

The news comes after the bank announced the sale of a 15% stake to a Japanese financial giant.

The target, announced in a document sent to shareholders before the upcoming general meeting, will nudge the private lender into the ranks of the billion-dollar profit club in the banking sector, in which only Vietcombank and Techcombank are members.

VPBank earlier this week completed a 15% stake sale to Japanese lender SMBC for $1.5 billion in the biggest acquisition ever recorded in Vietnam’s banking industry.

The lender expects an asset growth of 39% to VND880 trillion this year, while capital mobilization and lending growth are expected to hit 41% and 33%, respectively.

VPBank also wants its shareholders to approve a plan to increase its charter capital to VND79 trillion, the biggest in the industry, by issuing more shares.

The banks plans to sell 30 million shares to its employees at the price of VND10,000 per share. These shares will come from the bank’s treasury shares and will be for a limited trading period of three years.

Last year, VPBank recorded a pre-tax profit of VND21.22 trillion, up nearly 48% from 2021.