Engineers maintain the grid. The Military Bank will provide services for an electricity project financed by the Asian Development Bank. — Photo ktv.org.vn

HA NOI — The Military Bank (MB) has announced that it was selected by the State Bank of Viet Nam as a banking and finance service provider for the disbursement and implementation of the transmission grid No 1 project.

The two-year project is part of a US$1.75-billion grid investment programme developed by the National Power Transmission Corp with finance from the Asian Development Bank amounting to $730 million.

According to MB, the programme will help upgrade the national grid by supplying more 220KV and 500KV electricity lines and transfomer stations nationwide. It began last year and will be completed in 2020.

At a shareholder meeting late last month, the bank said it would increase its charter capital from VND10.6 trillion ($504.7 million) to VND15 trillion ($714.3 million) this year by issuing more shares.

This year, it planned to achieve a deposit growth rate of 10 per cent (equalling VND167.85 trillion or about $8 billion) and a lending growth rate of 12 per cent (equalling VND83.5 trillion or about $4 billion), and control bad debts at below 2.5 per cent.

It was expected to earn VND$3.5 trillion ($166.7 million) in pre-tax profits, an increase of 14 per cent over last year, and pay a dividend of 12 per cent. — VNS