Eximbank forecasts $146 mln profit in 2022

Eximbank, with Japan's SMBC as major shareholder, has forecast pre-tax profits of VND3.5 trillion ($146 million) for 2022, and a pre-tax profit target of VND5 trillion ($208 million) for 2023, up 42.9% year-on-year.

The bank's total assets by the end of 2023 are expected to reach about VND210 trillion ($8.76 billion), up 14% compared to the end of 2022, of which its credit balance will reach VND146.6 trillion ($6.11 billion), up 14%.

Eximbank is expected to submit documents to the State Bank of Vietnam on Tuesday for approving its plan to elect new board members after Le Hong Anh and Dao Phong Truc Dai submitted their resignations on October 24 for personal reasons.

The bank closed its list of shareholders on November 28 to hold an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on January 16, 2023.

In November, in a letter sent to the State Securities Commission of Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange explaining why its shares had hit their floor prices for five consecutive sessions from November 9-15, the private bank (listed as EIB) said it could not control the continuous fall of its share price because it was driven by market supply and demand.

In September, Vo Quang Hien, representative of major shareholder Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), was no longer a member of Eximbank's board of directors. The reason is that Hien was no longer the authorized representative of SMBC in the Ho Chi Minh City-based bank.

In May, SMBC terminated its strategic partnership with Eximbank ahead of time, after 14 years of cooperation. However, the Japanese institution had not yet withdrawn its capital and remains a major shareholder, Eximbank chairwoman Luong Thi Cam Tu told the bank's annual general meeting in late May.