Eximbank shrugs off pandemic, grows pre-tax profit by 22 pct

By Van Pham    March 16, 2021 | 04:00 am PT
Despite the adverse impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, Eximbank managed to increase profits by 22 percent last year and achieve its target.

In 2021 the Vietnam Export Import Commercial Joint Stock Bank, as it is formally known, expects profit before tax of VND2.15 trillion ($93.47 million).

Income from cards and bancassurance, its key products, grew by 144 percent to VND127 billion and 23 percent to VND112 billion, which pushed growth in service income to 20 percent, the highest rate in the last four years.

For 2021 the board of directors has set targets of a pre-tax profit of VND2.15 trillion, 10 percent growth in deposits and 15 percent credit growth.

The bank also plans to accelerate bad debt resolution and make additional provisions to fully redeem its VAMC bonds right in Q1 2021.

Its acting CEO, Nguyen Canh Vinh, said the bank seeks to contain the NPL ratio at below 2.5 percent and has made contingency plans and digital transformation to respond to new situations.

Eximbank expects profit before tax of VND2.15 trillion ($93.47 million). Photo by: Eximbank.

Eximbank expects profit before tax of VND2.15 trillion ($93.47 million) in 2021. Photo by Eximbank.

For the sake of stable operations, Eximbank optimizes and tightly controls management expenses, including increased salary costs by hierarchy and KPI results as advised by Talentnet, keeping its annual increase at around 16 percent, which is lower than the operating income growth of nearly 20 percent.

Eximbank seeks to expand its retail customer base, and launch products for various corporate customer segments.

It has managed to improve the customer experience by using technology and digital services, thus attracting more customers and increasing CASA (current account and saving account).

"Eximbank has met international standards in risk management and capital adequacy set out in the State Bank of Vietnam’s Circular 13," Vinh said.

"We understand that investment in resources and technologies for risk management in compliance with international best practices is a prerequisite for sustainable growth."

The bank has created an internal control system and internal capital adequacy assessment process, and conducted stress tests on KPMG’s advice.

Eximbank has adopted tools and models to measure and monitor business risks. In 2020 its capital adequacy ratio was 11.81 percent, higher than the level of 8 percent prescribed by the SBV through Circular 41.

In 2020 Eximbank received the awards for ‘Most active bank and best market maker’ from Refinitiv (London Stock Exchange Group), a leading supplier of financial information, data and platforms.

"These two awards reconfirm the position of the bank in the forex market, where its mission is to offer customers best products and services."

The ADB announced a trade finance limit and line of credit of $31 million (VND725 billion) for Eximbank.

 
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