ACB bank set to invest more in digital banking, corporate lending

Vietnam’s Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ACB) is planning to focus more on major corporate clients and digital banking, its CEO Tu Tien Phat said on Thursday.

“As for corporate clients, the bank will continue to steadily expand lending for small- and medium-sized enterprises but will add more foreign companies, especially industrial park developers,” he told the Ho Chi Minh City-based lender’s annual general meeting.

“ACB will go deeper into the group of major companies and digital banking services," he added.

The private bank has previously concentrated on retail banking. The new business orientations aim to mitigate slowing retail banking growth.

“Our growth in consumer banking in previous years was not less than 20%, but this year we expect it to be only 12-13%,” Phat added.

Phat told the annual general meeting that ACB ONE, the bank’s digital platform, has recently recorded 80% growth in transactions. “Up to 95% of our customers have shifted to the platform while only 5% go to our counters.”

The card business is also expected as a growth driver for ACB.

“In the first quarter of 2023, we recorded a growth rate of 78% in the international card business compared to 34% in the entire Vietnamese banking system. Now we hold 8.1% of the international card market in Vietnam, and expect it to serve as a major source of revenue this year.”

As for corporate bonds, Phat said ACB did not invest in them. “In bonds, 85% of our investment has gone into government bonds and the remaining 15% to leading Vietnamese credit institutions.”

Responding to a shareholder question about the bank’s merger and acquisition (M&A) plans, ACB chairman Tran Hung Huy said it has some interest, but the priority must be benefits for its shareholders and the possibility of future developments.

“For many years now, ACB has not seen the right bank to make an acquisition. We’re still looking and will grab a good opportunity if any,” Huy said.

For this year, ACB has set its pre-tax profit at a little more than VND20 trillion ($855.5 million), 17.2% higher than last year’s performance.

At the meeting, shareholders approved the bank’s plan to pay dividends at 25%, with 15% in to-be-issued shares and 10% in cash. ACB will issue more than 506 million shares for this purpose.

If this share issuance succeeds, its charter capital will increase to VND38.84 trillion ($1.66 billion) from VND33.774 trillion ($1.44 billion).

In 2022, ACB recorded a total revenue of VND28.79 trillion ($1.23 billion) and pre-tax profit of VND17.11 trillion ($730 million), up 22% and 43% year-on-year, respectively.

In Q1/2023, its net profit reached VND5.12 trillion ($218.39 million), up 24% and fullfilling 26% of the whole year plan.