Banks are reporting better profits for the third quarter this year, with Vietcombank leading the way despite the predicted slowdown in credit growth.

Sacombank gets a profit before tax of 2.49 trillion VND, an increase of 89.5 percent
compared to the same period of 2018. (Photo: bizlive.com) 

In the first nine months, Vietcombank announced profit before tax of 7.2 trillion VND (741.1 million USD), up 51.9 percent compared to the same period of 2018, 85.4 percent of the year's plan.

With consolidated profit before tax of 17.59 trillion VND, up 50.6 percent over the same period, Vietcombank is expected to get higher profit than its goal of 20 trillion VND
As another state-owned bank, Agribank announced its first eight months' profit before tax of 8.82 trillion VND, fulfilling 80.2 percent of the year's plan, setting the bank up for the possibility of exceeding its profit goal.

Among the private banks, Sacombank reported profit before tax of 2.49 trillion VND, up 89.5 percent compared to the same period of 2018, reaching 94 percent of its year’s plan.

By September 30 this year, Sacombank’s total assets hit 450.2 trillion VND, up 10.9 percent from the beginning of this year. Sacombank's sources of income continued to grow steadily, of which service revenue grew 21.1 percent, currency exchange revenue grew 35 percent and revenue from other activities 176.2 percent.

Sacombank’s bad debt ratio fell from 2.11 percent to 1.96 percent. Currently, Sacombank must spend on its restructuring project approved by the State Bank, thus its shareholders expect to receive no dividends in this period, despite large profits.

Tien Phong Bank (TPBank) reported profit before tax of 2.4 trillion VND in the first nine months, up 50 percent from its same term last year, reaching more than 75 percent of the year’s plan. The bank's mobilisation also exceeded 138 trillion VND, up 22 percent from last same term.

In the same period, MBB reported 7.08 trillion VND, an increase of 28.5 percent. By September 30 this year, Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank MBB's total assets reached 385.5 trillion, up 9.37 percent from the beginning of this year.

Though not yet officially announced, VPBank and Techcombank expect high profits in the first three quarters too.

A recent survey from the State bank of Vietnam showed that as of September 26, credit growth was recorded at 8.64 percent and capital mobilisation rose by 9.03 percent against figures seen in early 2019.

The report also found the demand for loans would continue to rise, higher than the demand for payments, cards and deposit accounts.

Some 68-73 percent of credit institutions expect the demand for banking services to surge for the rest of the year.

Notably, the survey showed the resolution of non-performing loans (NPL) at banks had shown positive signs, with 27.6 percent of banks reporting their NPL ratio declined in Q3 and 28.9 percent expected a drop in Q4. The rates are higher than 27.4 percent and 26.9 percent in the previous survey conducted in June.

The survey also indicated many banks saw a reduction in credit risk in the third quarter.