Banking industry set for bumper profits

By Quynh Trang   March 21, 2021 | 05:52 pm PT
Banking industry set for bumper profits
A bank teller counting VND notes at a branch in Hanoi. Photo by AFP.
State-owned banks' profits will grow by around 80 percent in the first quarter and private lenders’ by around 50 percent, brokerage SSI Securities Corporation has forecast.

It expects banks to achieve such exceptional growth this quarter since they have increased provisions to cover their non-performing loans in the previous quarter.

NPLs surged to a three-year high in 2020, it said.

State-owned VietinBank's chairman Le Duc Tho has said pre-tax profit for the first quarter is expected to surge by over 133 percent year-on-year to VND7-8 trillion ($304-347 million) without including the upfront fee for its bancassurance deal with Canadian insurer Manulife.

SSI forecast the industry’s full-year profit to grow by 24 percent, boosted by 15 percent credit growth expected this year and a decrease in lending costs.

The high growth expectation is reflected in the gains made by banking stocks and the fillip they have given to the benchmark VN-Index, which has risen by 8.1 percent this year to close at 1194.05 on Friday.

 
 
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