'Big 4' banks report nearly $1 bln profit in 2022

Three of the biggest Vietnamese lenders BIDV, VietinBank, and Agribank reported a profit of nearly $1 billion in 2022, while Vietcombank earned over $1 billion.

Vietcombank's unconsolidated pre-tax profit was VND36,774 billion ($1.56 billion) in 2022, exceeding its target by 19% and up 39% year-on-year.

Its non-interest income was up 9.2% compared to 2021, exceeding its target by 8.7%, according to a report released at the bank's year review meeting. Net income from foreign currency trading grew 31.7%, exceeding its plan by 24%.

Credit growth exceeded VND1,150 trillion ($49.04 billion) in the year, up 19% compared to the end of 2021. Of this, wholesale credit was up 18.5%, and retail credit growth, 19.4% year-on-year. The bank's bad debt ratio remained at 0.67%.

BIDV reported a consolidated pre-tax profit of VND23,190 billion ($989 million) in 2022, up 70% year-on-year and exceeding its plan by 13%.

At the end of 2022, BIDV's total assets reached more than VND2,080 trillion ($88.74 billion), up nearly 21% compared to the beginning of the year, maintaining its position as joint stock commercial bank with the largest total assets in Vietnam.

The bank's total mobilized capital reached VND1,950 billion ($83.15 billion), up 21.1% compared to the beginning of the year. Of this, mobilization of capital from organizations and individuals reached VND1,620 trillion ($69.08 billion), up 8.8% and accounting for nearly 13.6% of the banking industry's deposit market share. Its bad debt ratio was 0.9%.

Another "Big 4", VietinBank's unconsolidated pre-tax profit was VND20,500 billion ($874 million) last year, meeting its target, while the bad debt ratio was less than 1.2%.

The bank's operating cost to operating income ratio (CIR) was below 30%, among the lowest in the country's banking industry. In 2022, the lender controlled operating expenses by devoting resources to direct business activities, practicing thrift and fighting waste.

VietinBank is the country's second largest creditor by assets after BIDV. Like BIDV and Vietcombank, it has the state as majority shareholder.

For Agribank, according to deputy general director Nguyen Thi Phuong, the wholly state-owned bank exceeded its profit target of VND20,000 billion ($853.2 million) assigned by the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank in 2022. Its profit increased by about 40% year-on-year.

At an early year conference, Pham Duc An, chairman of Agribank said that the bank no longer ensures the minimum capital adequacy ratio for credit growth, due to the barrier of charter capital scale. Credit growth of the bank in 2022 was also low compared to the level of the whole system.

Therefore, An proposed the government advance an amount of VND6,753 billion ($288.08 million) for its chartered capital expansion. "This is very urgent to ensure the minimum capital adequacy ratio for credit growth right from the beginning of 2023," he said.

Can Van Luc, chief economist at BIDV, said that the financial statements of 27 listed banks show that banking profits grew well in the first nine months of 2022, with total pre-tax profit reaching VND192.5 trillion ($8.21 billion), up 39% year-on-year. Of these, seven banks achieved a profit of over VND10 trillion ($426.59 million), and some had a growth rate of more than 50% year-on-year.

By September 30, 2022, the 27 banks accounted for 70% of the credit institution system's total assets, 71% of outstanding loans, and 68% of customer deposits.

However, it should be noted that, despite the good growth rate, many banks' profit growth partly depends on reducing credit risk provisions.

Notably, representatives of some banks said their profits in the fourth quarter of 2022 were flat due to limited credit room, surging deposit interest rates and the pressure of provisioning in the last quarter.