Vietnam's state banks race to raise capital in bid to enter Asia’s top 100

Vietnam’s state-controlled banks are accelerating capital increases as they seek to expand balance sheets and meet a government target of placing at least three lenders among Asia’s 100 largest banks by total assets by 2030.

Under the Politburo's Resolution 79, Vietnam aims to have at least three state-controlled commercial banks ranked among Asia’s top 100 by assets by the end of the decade.

The country currently has four state banks: Agribank, which is wholly owned by the state, and Vietcombank, BIDV and VietinBank, which are listed but remain majority state-controlled.

According to KB Research, banks ranked in Asia’s top 100 typically have minimum total assets of around $150-200 billion, equivalent to VND3,900-5,200 trillion, while the largest Vietnamese state-controlled lender currently reports assets of about VND3,200 trillion. Asia’s top 100 banks grow assets at an average rate of about 5% annually.

To catch up over the next five years, Vietnam’s three listed state-controlled lenders would need to expand assets by around 13-17% per year, broadly in line with their growth over the 2020-2025 period, KB Research said.

Such rapid expansion would put pressure on banks’ capital adequacy ratios (CAR), a key measure of capital relative to risk-weighted assets. Under Basel II standards and Vietnam’s regulations, banks are required to maintain a minimum CAR of 8%.

Among the listed state-controlled lenders, BIDV currently has the largest balance sheet. Bank executives recently said its total assets had exceeded VND3,250 trillion ($124.8 billion), up 20% from 2024.

VietinBank said its assets topped $100 billion, or about VND2,620 trillion, at the end of 2025, an increase of 18%, while Vietcombank reported assets of around VND2,480 trillion, up 20%. Agribank’s assets stood at roughly $80 billion at the end of 2024.

To support asset growth while meeting capital requirements, state banks have stepped up capital-raising efforts.

In 2025, VietinBank was allowed to use retained earnings from 2009-2016 and from 2021-2022 to raise charter capital to over VND77.67 trillion ($2.98 billion). The issuance was completed late last year, enabling VietinBank to narrow the gap with larger private-sector peers.

The issuance was successfully completed at the end of last year, and VietinBank officially surpassed BIDV and moved closer to the top 3 (VPBank – VND79.34 trillion), MB (VND80.55 trillion), and Vietcombank (nearly VND83.56 trillion).

BIDV has approved a private placement of 264 million shares, which would raise its charter capital to VND72.85 trillion. At an offer price of VND38,900 ($1.48) per share, the bank expects to raise over VND10.27 trillion ($391 million) to support lending activities. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2026, with a one-year lock-up on the new shares.

Among the prospective investors are several well-known organizations and investment funds, including the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC); Dragon Capital–related funds such as Hanoi Investments Holdings Limited, Vietnam Enterprise Investments Limited, and Amersham Industries Limited; DC Dynamic Securities Fund, Darasol Investments Limited, SSI Asset Management, Manulife Vietnam, and Prudential Vietnam.

Vietcombank, meanwhile, has begun preparations for its own private placement. On January 23, the bank invited bids to hire an independent valuation consultant for the transaction. At its 2025 annual shareholders’ meeting, Vietcombank received approval to issue private placement shares equivalent to no more than 6.5% of outstanding shares, or about 543 million shares.

Pricing will be determined based on three criteria: not lower than book value, not lower than the value assessed by an independent valuation firm, and not lower than the average closing price of VCB shares over 10 consecutive trading days prior to investors’ purchase notification.

KB Research said Resolution 79 could accelerate state divestment and the sale of stakes to strategic investors in the banking sector. The resolution also allows proceeds from equitization and divestment to be fully retained, while increasing the share of post-tax profits that banks can keep, creating favorable conditions for boosting capital through retained earnings.

Shares of state-owned banks have responded positively. BIDV shares have risen from around VND39,000 ($1.5) to VND51,900 since the start of the year, after trading largely flat in 2025. Vietcombank shares climbed from VND57,100 to VND79,000 ($3.03) before easing to around VND69,600 recently. VietinBank shares have rallied from about VND26,200 to VND38,400 since June 2025, after capital constraints were eased.