Viet Nam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank) achieved a 34 per cent year-on-year rise in pre-tax profit to VND4.37 trillion (US$189.4 million) in the first half of the year, maintaining the quality and effectiveness of growth.

VPBank on Friday announced its financial report for Q2 with total operating income (TOI) of more than VND14.5 trillion, increasing 28 per cent from the same period last year. This shows strong growth in the increasing competition of the banking sector, especially in VPBank’s strategic customer segments. Its capital mobilisation and credit growth rose by 7.99 per and 6.8 per cent respectively from last year.

VPBank has applied solutions to increase revenue as well as modernise its business administration and technologies. This was the reason the bank’s cost income ratio (CIR) was reduced from 35.54 per cent in 2017 to 32.31 per cent in the first six months of the year.

VPBank has made one of the highest contributions to the State budget at VND2.1 trillion in 2017.

The report also revealed that the bank completed its set targets in the first half of the year as its capital use effectiveness has been high in the sector, showing it is on the right path for sustainable growth.

By the end of the second quarter, its return on asset (ROA) and return of equity (ROE) were at 2.46 per cent and 22.36 per cent respectively. The indexes showed that VPBank is among banks with the best profitability in the market.

Its capital adequacy ratio (CAR) continued to maintain at high level of 13.21 per cent. The bank’s short-term debt rate and middle-and-long-term lending were at a low level of 29.3 per cent.

VPBank’s strategic segments such as consumer finance, individual and small-and-medium enterprises have been an impetus for its high revenue in the January-June period. The bank has also gradually moved towards digital banking and targeting high-end customers.

Accordingly, the number of customers using its digital banking service rose from more than 401,000 in 2017 to 832,000 in the first half of the year. The number of transactions through VPBank’s digital channels also doubled to two million from the same period last year, accounting for 48 per cent of its total transactions. The bank’s capital mobilisation online was up to VND10.8 trillion from VND5 trillion last year.

At the beginning of the year, VPBank launched VPBank Dream on both web and mobile platforms to maximise convenience for lending, asset management and individual consultancy. This marks the first digital banking foundation developed by VPBank and an initial step in its digitalisation strategy.

VPBank is also taking the lead in the bank card market. A report by the Viet Nam Bank Card Association revealed that the number of bank cards issued by VPBank accounted for 19 per cent of the total market in 2017, taking first position. Its card spending revenue also took the lead in Viet Nam with 17 per cent of market share by the end of last year and 21.1 per cent in the first quarter of this year.

VPBank recently introduced its VPBank Diamond service for high-end customers. The new service has helped the bank become a pioneer in the segment which has been on the rise in the country.

VPBank expects to continue to create momentum for higher growth in the next five years with its digitalisation strategy and concentration on high-end customers. — VNS