Customers make transactions at an Agribank office in Ha Noi. Agribank is among banks which gained the highest pre-tax profits by the end of June. — VNS Photo Thai Ha

HA NOI (Biz Hub)— Pre-tax profits of commercial banks in the first half of the year was estimated to total VND24.2 trillion (US$1.125 billion), up 1.2 per cent against the same period last year, vn.economy website quoted a source as saying.

VietinBank, Agribank, Vietcombank, BIDV, and Sacombank gained the highest pre-tax profits by the end of June, the sources was reported to have said.

Except for foreign banks with H1 pre-tax profit decreasing by 15.3 per cent year-on-year, State-owned and joint stock commercial banks both posted higher results in H1 with a rise of 8.8 per cent and 4.4 per cent.

State-owned banks accounted for 48 per cent of the total pre-tax profits of the entire banking system while joint stock commercial banks made up 35 per cent of the total profits.

The source said slow lending growth caused a lower net interest income of commercial banks in H1 by 2.8 per cent year-on-year.

However, income from the sale of securities and other financial activities rose during the period, offsetting the decline in net interest income and losses from foreign exchange trading.

Operating costs of the whole banking system falling 2.7 per cent against the same period last year also helped to raise profits of the whole system. However, higher non-performing loan (NPL) provisions for credit losses increased nearly 12 per cent.

Return on equity (ROE) and return on asset (ROA) of the whole banking system were down to 8.6 per cent and 0.9 per cent. — VNS