Total assets of credit institutions and foreign banks in Vietnam by the end of the first quarter of this year inched down 0.72% to VND12.48 quadrillion (US$521.76 billion) compared to the end of last year.

Assets of four large State-owned banks, including VietinBank, account for 41.76% of
the banking system's total assets (Photo: tapchitaichinh.vn) 

The latest report released last week by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) showed assets of four large State-owned banks, including Agribank, Vietcombank, VietinBank and BIDV, accounted for 41.76% of the total assets.

The report also showed total charter capital of the institutions by the end of Q1 2020 increased by 0.85% against the end of 2019 to VND617.5 trillion, of which VND145.1 trillion were from the four State-owned banks.

Equity capital of credit institutions and foreign banks’ branches in Vietnam reached VND937.9 trillion.

However, experts were concerned that surging overdue loans from the COVID-19 pandemic-induced economic fallout could threaten Vietnamese banks' capital accretion momentum, with many banks likely to face capital shortfalls should the weak economic conditions persist.

It was estimated that Vietnamese banks may face a capital shortfall of up to US$2.5 billion (27% of their combined end-2019 equity) in meeting the SBV's Basel II minimum total capital adequacy ratio requirement of 8%. Of which, the State-owned banks would face the largest gap.

The SBV also reported 76 credit institutions, including two State-owned banks, 20 commercial joint stock banks, two joint-venture banks, nine wholly foreign-owned banks and 43 foreign banks’ branches, have so far met the Basel II capital adequacy ratio.