Retired Vietcombank executive appointed acting CEO of PG Bank

Vietnamese private lender PG Bank announced Monday the appointment of Pham Manh Thang, former deputy general director of Vietcombank, as its acting general director.

Pham Manh Thang, 61, holds a doctorate degree in economics from Hanoi-based Banking Academy and worked for more than 30 years with state-controlled Vietcombank.

From September 1991 to December 2002, Thang worked at the Vietcombank's Quang Ninh province branch as deputy director.

From December 2002 to March 2014, Thang was director of Vietcombank's Hai Duong province branch. In March 2014, he was appointed deputy general director of Vietcombank and held this position until his retirement on May 1, 2023.

PG Bank also announced Monday the appointment of Nguyen Phi Hung as chairman for the 2020-2025 term, replacing Oliver Schwarzhaupt.

Hung, 47, has a bachelor of economics degree from the National Economics University and did his master of business administration at the Asian Institute of Technology AIT.

He has held several senior positions including deputy general director in charge of operations at Vietnam’s Maritime Bank (MSB); director of operations at PG Bank; head of operations at PG Bank; head of international payment-trade finance and head of treasury transactions at Citibank Hanoi.

In the first quarter of 2023, PG Bank, registered on the unlisted public company market (UPCoM) as PGB, earned pre-tax profits of VND153 billion ($6.46 million), up 21% year-on-year. Its total operating income reached VND391 billion ($16.5 million) in the period, up 22.7%.

At the end of Q1, the bank's total assets had stood at VND43.43 trillion ($1.8 billion) and total outstanding loans were VND30.23 trillion ($1.28 billion).

For 2023, the bank targets net revenues of VND1.4 trillion ($59.62 million), up 17.3% year-on-year; and after-tax profits of VND424 billion ($18.06 million), up 4.9%. The earning per share (EPS) plan is VND1,414 ($0.06) per unit, up 4.8%.

PG Bank, not listed by the central bank in the group of weak banks with a bad debt ratio of less than 3%, currently has the problem of Petrolimex having a 40% ownership, exceeding the regulated ceiling of 15%.

To ensure the prescribed ownership ratio, Petrolimex has a plan to divest. Since 2014, many commercial banks, including HDBank, have eyed a stake in PG Bank, but no deal has been struck so far.

The PGB share closed Tuesday at VND27,500 ($1.16).