State-owned banks report biggest profits in H1

Vietcombank continued to be in top spot with consolidated profits of VND20.5 trillion (US$868.6 million), an 18% increase from the same period last year thanks to 14% growth in core income from credit activities.

Vietcombank also reduced provisions for credit risks after strong provisioning in previous years.

BIDV was outside the top five in the first half of last year, but has risen to second place with profits of VND13.86 trillion, up 26% mainly thanks to a reduction in provisioning.

Sharing third place are state-owned VietinBank and military-owned MB with profits of over VND12.5 trillion. Techcombank, a private lender that used to be the second biggest profit earner, fell to fifth place.

Its earnings have fallen by 20% to VND11.3 trillion as its two main sources of income, real estate lending and investment in corporate bonds, dried up.

Those next in the list, private banks ACB, SHB, VIB, and HDBank, have seen profits increase by up to 10%.

The top 10 is rounded off by VPBank, whose profits of VND5.2 trillion represent a third of the profits in the same period last year, when it was the second highest in the industry.

Its revenues from credit decreased by 10% and provisioning for bad debts increased sharply as they rose from 2.8% at the beginning of this year to 3.88% at the end of June.