Total assets for the entire banking industry by the end of August reached VND5,248.57 trillion (US$238.57 billion), up by VND35.2 trillion ($1.6 billion) against last month.— Photo dantri

HA NOI (Biz Hub)— Total assets for the entire banking industry by the end of August reached VND5,248.57 trillion (US$238.57 billion), up by VND35.2 trillion ($1.6 billion) against last month.

Compared with December last year, assets rose 3.89 per cent, according to the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV)'s data.

The rise in total assets for the banking industry was mostly due to an increase in assets of 5.43 per cent by State-owned banks and 0.89 per cent in assets for commercial joint stock banks.

Financial and financial leasing companies reported a decline of 1 per cent in assets in the period.

Equity of the entire banking industry also rose VND1.399 trillion ($63.59 million) to VND445.025 trillion ($20.228 billion) by the end of August, of which State-owned banks made up VND158.267 trillion ($7.193 billion) and VND177.898 trillion ($8.086 billion) was from commercial joint stock banks.

Charter capital for the entire sector also surged 3.97 per cent from the end of July to VND407.714 trillion ($18.53 billion) by the end of August, but the capital adequacy ratio (CAR) inched down to 13.66 per cent.

The ratio of short-term capital for medium- and long-term loans surged from 16.84 per cent at the end of July to 17.24 per cent at the end of August.

However, the loan-to-deposit ratio (LTD) dropped to 87.42 per cent from 87.75, proving that credit growth is still facing difficulties.

The central bank's latest data showed that overall credit growth fell from 6.45 per cent at the end of August to 5.83 per cent on September 18.

Industry insiders are concerned that credit growth, despite improvements in the last two quarters, is currently low compared to the 12 per cent annual target. — VNS