Banks rise high in taxpayers’ list

In fact, 10 lenders made it to the top 50, according to Vietnam's General Department of Taxation.

Vietcombank inched up two spots from 2016 to fourth behind telecom giant Viettel Group, Japan’s automobile manufacturer Honda Vietnam and PetroVietnam Gas JSC (PV Gas). 

Vietinbank retained its ninth position.

Last year Vietcombank reported pre-tax profit of more than VND10.8 trillion ($464.4 million), a year-on-year increase of 32 percent.

This was the first ever time a Vietnamese bank’s profit exceeded VND10 trillion ($430 million).

Forbes listed the two among the world's 2,000 largest public companies: VietinBank was in 1,633rd place with revenues of $2.7 billion and a market value of $3 billion while Vietcombank came in at 1,656th with $2.1 billion and $5.8 billion, respectively.

HD Bank jumped 91 spots in the tax list to 40th place. 

BIDV, Agribank, Military Bank, and Techcombank were the other lenders in the top 20.

A report from the National Financial Supervisory Committee earlier this year estimated that the banking sector’s pre-tax profits surged by more than 40 percent last year on the back of strong credit growth, better-than-expected bad debt settlement, effective risk management, and the strong real estate market.

Interestingly, foreign-owned banks moved downward in the taxpayers’ list, HSBC Vietnam by seven spots, ANZ by four and Shinhan by three. 

This is the second year that the rankings have been announced by the General Department of Taxation, and the list contains 703 firms from the 2016 edition and 297 new ones.

The manufacturing sector continued to dominate the list with 36 percent of the tax paid. It was followed by the finance-banking-insurance sector (14.8 percent) and telecommunications (9.3 per cent).

Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City continued to lead in terms of number of businesses and tax contributions, with 36 percent and 32.5 percent, respectively.

The highly industrialized Dong Nai and Binh Duong provinces near HCMC followed with 5.8 percent and 4.4 percent.

The list included 117 state-owned enterprises, which paid 27.7 per cent of the total tax.

Foreign companies accounted for 40.4 percent of the total number and paid 36.7 percent of the tax, with Samsung, Heineken and Siam City Cement all making it to the top 10.

Source: General Department of Taxation, Ministry of Finance