VPBank becomes Vietnam’s largest bank by charter capital

VPBank has topped Vietnam's banking system in terms of charter capital after expanding it by 50% to VND67,434 billion ($2.83 billion).

This puts it far ahead of state-owned banks who had hitherto held the top slots.

BIDV's chartered capital is VND50,585 billion ($2.12 billion), while the figures for VietinBank, Vietcombank, and Agribank are VND48,058 billion, VND47,325 billion, and VND34,351 billion, respectively.

After the central bank had approved its charter capital hike plan on August 19, 2022, VPBank closed the list of shareholders on September 29 to issue more than 2.24 billion shares to existing shareholders at the ratio of 2:1 (owning two ordinary shares can buy one new share).

The capital addition came from undivided profits, reserve fund to supplement charter, and more than 2.24 billion shares issued.

In the first nine months of the year, the bank's consolidated pre-tax profits reached more than VND19,800 billion ($831.7 million), up 70% year-on-year. As of September, the bank's equity had reached VND102.36 trillion ($4.29 billion), up 18.6% year-on-year.

VPBank also issued 30 million treasury shares recently to employees under the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), equivalent to 0.675% of the total number of outstanding shares. The issue price was equal to the par value of VND10,000 ($0.42) per share.

The bank also plans to issue shares equivalent to a maximum 15% of its charter capital to foreign investors, bringing the total foreign ownership ratio to 30% at maximum. With this option, the maximum number of shares issued will be 1.19 billion.

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, the bank (VPB) closed Thursday’s session at VND17,000 ($0.71) per share.