A majority of credit institutions in the country expect an upward trend in their business this year, according to a survey released on Monday by the State Bank of Viet Nam.

Under the business sentiment survey conducted last month, which covered domestic and foreign commercial banks operating in the country, 88.3 per cent of the respondents expected their profits this year would be higher than last year. Only 5.3 per cent of the respondents forecast their profit to remain unchanged and 6.4 per cent were concerned about a profit decline.

The respondents forecast that profits for the entire banking system in 2018 would increase by 18.63 per cent against last year, higher than the 13.63 per cent reported in the previous survey conducted in the same period last year.

A total of 72.6 per cent estimated that their business performance in Q3 would be improved in the third quarter, while 80 per cent hoped for continuous improvement in Q4. Of this, 15.8 per cent and 23 per cent anticipated “significant improvement” in Q3 and Q4, respectively.

The survey also showed that many banks expected customer demand for banking services in the second half of 2018 and the entire year to increase compared to last year.

Banks expected the banking system’s credit growth to reach 4.52 per cent in the fourth quarter and 15.22 per cent for the entire year.

The respondents also anticipated capital mobilisation of the entire banking system this year would reach 15.34 per cent, of which the increase in the last quarter was anticipated to be 5.83 per cent.

Banks also said the liquidity of the banking system in both Vietnamese dong and foreign currencies was currently “good” and that the positive status would continue for the rest of the year.

With optimism about growth prospects for 2018, banks also forecast the industry’s labour market to see positive changes in the coming months.

Despite more recruitment in the first three quarters of this year, many banks said they are still short of employees, with 61.46 per cent of the respondents saying that they planned to recruit more in the fourth quarter of this year. — VNS