MB solidifies position as one of Vietnam's most profitable banks

Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MB) aims to reap pre-tax consolidated profit of VND39.5 trillion ($1.52 billion) in 2026, consolidating its position among the most profitable banks in Vietnam.

This will be an increase of 15% year-on-year. But MB strives to achieve 20%, chairman Luu Trung Thai told the group's investor meeting on Monday. Of this, subsidiaries are expected to contribute around 12-13%.

Apart from retail banking and lending for production and export activities, FDI customers, gold trading and digital assets (as a payment bank) will be new driving forces of growth, he noted.

In 2025, consolidated profit before tax reached nearly VND34.27 trillion ($1.32 billion), an increase of 19% from 2024. This was the first time pre-tax profit had topped VND30 trillion.

MB aims to achieve credit and deposit growth of around 35% for 2026. The credit expansion figure is higher than the market average as it has participated in the mandatory bank restructuring. In 2024, MB took over OceanBank as its new member.

Revenue from digital channels is set to be raised to 60% of the total, from 50.3% in 2025. Digitalization is an outstanding strength of MB.

The group seeks to keep its consolidated non-performing loan ratio below 1.5% (below 1% for the parent bank) and maintain a 100% non-performing loan coverage ratio. The respective figures in 2025 were 1.29% and 1.13%.

To support high growth in the 2026-2028 period, parent bank MB will implement a strong capital increase roadmap, ensuring the capital adequacy ratio (CAR) always remains above 10.5% and aims to soon apply Circular 14 (Basel III) using the advanced International Review Board (IRB) method, optimizing risk-weighted assets, and enhancing MB's reputation in the international market.

MB plans to maintain reasonable lending rates, prioritizing loans for the real needs of the people and production sectors in line with the Government's direction. "MB will not expand its net interest margin (NIM) but will compensate with scale and efficiency to support the national economic recovery," chairman Thai told investors.

The parent bank's total assets are projected to reach VND2,149 trillion (82.64 billion) in 2026, an increase of approximately 33%, further narrowing the gap with the largest banks in Vietnam.

Its total assets reached VND1,600 trillion ($61.49 billion) in 2025, up about 43% from a year earlier, continuing to maintain its position among the Vietnamese banks with fastest balance sheet expansion rates.

The bank aims to expand its customer base to 40 million from 35.09 million customers in 2025, maintaining its position as the industry's top performer in terms of CASA (current account savings account) ratio.

MB seeks to pursue an IPO of consumer finance arm Mcredit in the medium term, but the timing would depend on market conditions, according to Thai. For now, the bank is prioritizing improving Mcredit’s operating efficiency before proceeding with an IPO.

"Vietnam’s consumer finance market has undergone significant consolidation, with several large players struggling and lending models changing rapidly. Mcredit aims to develop a more sustainable and efficient business model to support a future listing."

Labor productivity is expected to increase by 15% thanks to the strong application of automation and AI in processes. The growth was 10% in 2025.

Robust performance in 2025

MB's key profitability indicators remained solid in 2025, with return on equity (RoE) at 21.15%, return on assets (ROA) above 2%, and net interest margin (NIM) at 4.03%.

The bank’s CASA ratio edged down to 37.8% from 39.3% a year earlier, but remained the highest in the market.

Total operating income reached about VND67.7 trillion ($2.6 billion), with non-interest income accounting for roughly 24%.

For the first time, both outstanding loans and customer deposits exceeded VND1,000 trillion ($38.43 billion) in 2025.

Digital banking contributed 50.3% of total revenue in 2025, reflecting the lender's successful transition from a traditional banking model to a digital banking model and a financial-technological ecosystem.

Over the 2015-2025 period, the bank invested VND16.8 trillion ($645.67 million) in information technology infrastructure. Up to 99% of transactions were conducted through digital channels.

Under its banking-as-a-service (BaaS) model, MB has connected with 1,496 partners via 1,460 application programming interfaces (APIs), generating transaction value of VND960 trillion (VND36.89 billion).

Digital loan disbursements totalled VND822 trillion ($31.59 billion) in 2025, more than double the level in 2024. The application of artificial intelligence has helped cut operating time and costs by around 60% compared with traditional processes, the management said.

As of end-2025, the parent bank had 35.09 million customers, including 31.1 million retail users on its mobile app and more than 383,000 corporate clients using its BIZ platform. It has become one of the financial institutions with the largest customer base in Vietnam.

Following the issuance of regulations on agent banking, MB rolled out 1,800 agent banking points nationwide to support cash deposits, withdrawals, and payments. The bank also held around 40% of Vietnam’s payment speaker market, with 200,000 devices deployed.

On asset quality, MB reported a consolidated non-performing loan (NPL) ratio of 1.29%, while the parent bank's NPL ratio stood at 1.13%. The parent bank NPL coverage ratio was 100%, while the consolidated figure reached 94%. The capital adequacy ratio (CAR) was maintained above 11%.

Revenue at MB’s subsidiaries rose 32% year-on-year in 2025, while profit increased by about 61%.

Notably, since the beginning of 2017, MBB's stock market capitalization has increased 9.9 times (equivalent to $8.5 billion), and is expected to reach $10 billion by the end of 2027.

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), MBB shares closed Tuesday at VND27,700 ($1.07) apiece.