Novaland executives at the company’s annual general meeting in HCM City on Tuesday. — VNS Photo

Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank wants to become one of the top five private lenders in the coming years, its chairman, Trinh Van Tuan, told the annual general meeting in HCM City on Wednesday.

To achieve this, it plans to restructure, focus on retail banking, optimise technology and digitise the entire internal process and also its services, he said.

It plans to strengthen strategic co-operation with international partners to mobilise low-cost capital, he added.

In 2021 the lender targets credit growth of 25 per cent, and profits of VND5.5 trillion, a 25 per cent rise from the previous year.

Shareholders approved plans to hike the capital from VND10.9 trillion (US$474 million) to VND14.5 trillion ($630 million) by issuing nearly 274 million shares to pay dividends of 25 per cent, earmarking five million shares for an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) and selling 70 million shares to domestic and foreign investors.

Last year it achieved a pre-tax profit of VND4.4 trillion ($191 million), a 37 per cent increase from 2020.

The bank is in the top two in the country in terms of ROAA and ROEA and top 10 in terms of profits.

Established in 1996, OCB has transaction centres in all major cities and economic zones in the country. — VNS