State Bank of Vietnam reveals falling assets in banking system

By VGP, Dam Tuan April 27, 2016 | 02:58 am PT

Total assets in the banking system fell slightly by VND32.3 trillion in January to VND7,287 trillion ($326 billion) from the end of last year, statistics from the State Bank of Vietnam show.

State-owned banks’ assets dipped sharply by VND33.12 trillion ($1.49 billion), equivalent to one percent, while commercial banks dropped VND5.02 trillion (0.17 percent).

Total assets of foreign and joint venture banks rose by VND2.46 trillion (0.33 percent) to VND758.04 trillion ($34 billion), while leasing companies’ total assets grew by VND2.38 trillion (2.71 percent) to VND90.22 trillion ($4 billion).

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The total assets of Vietnamese banks fell in January while foreign and joint venture banks made gains. Photo by VnExpress

The minimum Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) in the banking system as of January 31 was 12.86 percent, slightly down from 13 percent at the end of 2015, but still much higher than the State Bank of Vietnam’s compulsory ratio of 9 percent.

Total assets may have fallen, but equity and charter capital in the system rose by 0.39 percent in the first month of 2016 to reach VND580.28 trillion (about $26 billion), climbing VND2.26 trillion ($101.8 million).

The primary contributors to this were foreign and joint venture banks whose equity and capital assets increased VND2.48 trillion to VND119,64 trillion ($5.38 billion). Equity in state-owned commercial banks also climbed VND1 trillion to VND204.33 trillion ($9.19 billion), but equity in commercial joint stock banks fell VND1.58 trillion to $234.76 trillion ($10.55 billion)

The banking system’s total charter capital grew VND111 billion ($5 million) in January to VND460.4 trillion ($20.7 billion) compared with December 2015.