A VIB logo seen on a building in HCM City. Photo courtesy of the bank

The bank's 10-month pre-tax profit was also 9 per cent higher than last year's. Its return on equity has stood at 30 per cent for three consecutive years.

The positive performance was attributable to the increased fee revenue from products and services, digital banking, and capital optimisation that Vietnam International Bank (VIB) has implemented for five years.

VIB has many advantages in managing the bad debt ratio at a safe level thanks to the high retail loan proportion, which makes up 90 per cent of the total outstanding credit balance, with over 90 per cent of loans having collateral.

Thanks to shifting into the retail segment, including credit cards, home loans, auto loans, business loans and insurance and promoting digitalisation, VIB's leaders forecast that the company's pre-tax and after-tax profits for 2022 will likely exceed the plan assigned by the General Meeting of Shareholders of $424.15 million and $339.32 million, respectively.

These figures could be even higher if VIB considered the extraordinary profits from some cooperation agreements that the bank will likely complete in 2022.

With this forecast and its efforts to ensure high safety ratios in business activities, VIB will likely pay a cash dividend of up to 35 per cent of charter capital by the end of the fiscal year. That means each shareholder who owns one share can receive a $0.14 dividend.

This 35 per cent figure could be much higher if extraordinary revenues are recorded. After paying dividends, VIB will continue to comply with the safety factors according to the rules of the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) and under Basel II and Basel III. VIB also expects that its Basel II capital adequacy ratio will stand above 10 per cent, higher than the 8 per cent regulated by the SBV.

Following the guidance of the SBV, banks, including VIB, did not pay cash dividends in the three years of 2020-22. Instead, VIB regularly distributed bonus shares to shareholders at the rate of 20 per cent in 2020, 40 per cent in 2021 and 35 per cent in 2022 in addition to the employee stock ownership plans and bonus shares for employees.

Previously, the bank had paid annual cash dividends to shareholders during 2017-19.

According to VIB, the plan to pay cash dividends in 2023 and maintain safety and efficiency indicators after three years affected by the pandemic is practical and in line with the aspirations of most shareholders.

VIB leaders said the bank would calculate the optimal dividend to submit to the General Meeting of Shareholders in early 2023. If the cash dividend payment plan is approved at the Annual General Meeting and by the SBV, it will be the good news that shareholders have been looking forward to for a long time.

VIB usually completes the dividend payment within the first six months of the year, so shareholders should not have to wait long for their dividend payments.