ABBank incurs $14 mln loss in Q3

Hanoi-headquartered An Binh Commercial Joint Stock Bank reported a pre-tax loss of VND343.5 billion ($13.59 million) in the third quarter of this year, while some other private Vietnamese banks posted strong profits.

Q3 saw net interest income reach VND737.6 billion ($29.18 million), up 13.8% over the same period last year, according to the bank’s (ABBank) quarterly financial statement.

However, other business segments of ABBank, listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange as ABB, recorded declines, even losses.

Typically, net profit from service activities plunged by 56.6% year-on-year to VND82.1 billion ($3.25 million), while foreign exchange trading and securities trading recorded losses of VND46.4 billion and VND60 billion, respectively.

In the quarter, operating expenses increased slightly to VND560.3 billion ($22.16 million). The bank increased risk provisions 2.2 times over the same period last year to nearly VND526 billion.

As a result, it reported a pre-tax loss of VND343.5 billion ($13.59 million) in Q3, while the same period last year saw a profit of VND29.5 billion.

Thanks to the positive results in the first two quarters of the year, the lender's pre-tax profit in the first nine months was nearly VND239 billion ($9.45 million), down 66% year-on-year. After the nine months, the bank had fulfiled only 24% of the year’s target of VND1 trillion pre-tax profit.

ABBank said profits were lower than expected because the bank increased provisioning given its actual developments and the market demand negatively impacted by natural disasters.

As of September 30, 2024, its assets stayed at about VND164,194 billion ($6.5 billion), a slight increase compared to the beginning of the year.

Its outstanding loans grew by less than 1%, from VND98,107 billion to nearly VND98,768 billion.

Total bad debt of groups 3-5 as of September 30 hit VND3,158 billion ($124.9 million), up 11% compared to the beginning of the year, raising the ratio of bad debt to outstanding loans from 2.91% at the beginning of the year to nearly 3.2% at the end of Q3.

On the other side of the balance sheet, ABBank’s deposits reached VND91,089 billion ($3.6 billion), down 8.9% compared to the beginning of the year.

ABB shares closed Thursday at VND7,700 (30 U.S. cents) apiece.

Q3, however, saw some other private banks in Vietnam post remarkable profit growths. Ho Chi Minh City-headquarted HDBank's pre-tax profit in the quarter hit VND4.49 trillion ($177.24 million), up 42.6% year-on-year.

HCMC-based Eximbank earned a net profit of VND721.2 billion ($28.6 million), up 198.25%, thanks to income from lending and forex trading.

Hanoi-headquartered Loc Phat Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank, or LPBank, posted a net profit of VND2.33 trillion ($93 million) in Q3, 2.3 times that of the same period in 2023.