Vietcombank tops profitability among state-controlled banks

Three of the biggest Vietnamese lenders Vietcombank, Vietinbank and BIDV reported the same operating income in the first quarter this year, but very different profits.

Vietcombank's profit is 85% higher than VietinBank's and 61% higher than BIDV, although Vietcombank's operating income is only 7-8% higher than both banks.

Vietcombank achieved after-tax profit of VND8.99 trillion ($383 million) in Q1, up 13% year-on-year. The figures for Vietinbank and BIDV were VND4.83 trillion ($206 million) and VND5.56 trillion ($237 million), up 3% and 20%, respectively.

The total operating income of Vietcombank, VietinBank and BIDV reached VND18.52 trillion ($789 million), VND17.02 trillion ($725 million) and VND17.28 billion ($736 million), respectively.

Another "Big 4", Agribank currently has not announced its Q1 financial statement. Vietcombank, Vietinbank and BIDV are state-controlled banks, while Agribank is wholly state-owned bank.

The factor that makes the difference in profits among the three "big guys" is provision. Vietcombank only had to spend VND2.02 trillion ($86.13 million) to make provision for risks, while VietinBank set aside up to VND6.72 trillion ($286.51 million) and BIDV had to make a provision of VND5.53 trillion ($235.54 million).

Among the trio, VietinBank is also the only bank that had to increase risk provision in Q1, up 52%. In contrast, the provision of Vietcombank and BIDV declined by 11% and 25.2%, respectively.

In the group of large banks, Vietcombank had the lowest bad debt, while BIDV had the largest figure.

As of March 31, 2023, Vietcombank's bad debt was VND9.94 trillion ($423.69 million), up 27% compared to the beginning of the year and accounting for 0.85% of total outstanding loans.

BIDV's bad debt was over VND24.73 trillion ($1.05 billion), up 40% and making up 1.55% of total outstanding loans. The figures for VietinBank were VND17.04 trillion ($725.97 million), 8% and 1.3%, respectively.

The Big 4 is currently leading in terms of total assets, capital base as well as prestige. At the end of Q1, BIDV ranked first in terms of total assets with more than VND2,100 trillion ($89.46 billion), down 0.6% compared to the beginning of the year.

Vietcombank ranked second with VND1,840 trillion ($78.38 billion), and Vietinbank third with VND1,820 trillion ($77.5 billion).