LPBank gets green light to raise charter capital to $1.22 billion

Vietnam’s LPBank, formerly known as LienVietPostBank, has received approval from the central bank to raise its charter capital from VND11.39 trillion to VND28.68 trillion ($1.22 billion).

To facilitate the move, the private bank, listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) as LPB, will issue 328.5 million shares to pay dividends, offer 500 million shares to existing shareholders, organize a private placement of 300 million shares for foreign investors, and issue 10 million shares under the employee stock ownership plan.

The plan was approved at LPB’s 2023 annual general meeting in April.

LPBank is the latest to join the growing trend of Vietnamese commercial banks raising their charter capital. In May, state-controlled Vietcombank, a “Big Four” bank in Vietnam, was permitted to raise its charter capital from VND47.33 trillion to VND55.89 trillion ($2.38 billion). With the move, Vietcombank surpassed VietinBank and BIDV, two other “Big 4” banks, to become the second-largest bank in terms of charter capital, after private lender VPBank.

In November 2022, VPBank topped Vietnam's banking system in terms of charter capital after expanding by 50% to VND67.43 trillion ($2.83 billion). This puts it far ahead of other state-owned banks that had hitherto held the top slots.

BIDV's charter capital is VND50.59 trillion ($2.12 billion), while the figures for VietinBank, Vietcombank, and Agribank are VND48.06 trillion, VND47.33 trillion, and VND34.35 trillion, respectively.

Nevertheless, BIDV has already made plans to increase its charter capital to VND61.56 billion ($2.62 billion), the bank announced at its annual general meeting in April.

VietinBank’s plan of raising its charter capital to VND60,387 billion was approved at its 2022 annual general meeting in April.

In May, the National Assembly's Standing Committee okayed a plan for wholly state-owned Agribank to increase its charter capital by VND17.1 trillion ($729 million). Its charter capital stood at VND24,328 billion ($1.04 billion) at the end of 2022.