The charter capital of consumer finance company FE Credit, which accounts for some 50 per cent of Viet Nam’s consumer finance market share, surged sharply to nearly VND7.33 trillion (US$313 million) from the previous VND4.47 trillion.

It was released recently under a State Bank of Viet Nam decision on revising the charter capital of the consumer finance company in its business certificate.

With the capital hike, FE Credit’s charter capital accounts for up to 35 per cent of total charter capital of all 16 consumer finance companies in the country.

FE Credit’s capital hike came just a short time after its parent company VP Bank completed most of its capital hike approved at the bank’s 2018 annual general meeting of shareholders in April this year. By the end of last month, VP Bank completed the issue of nearly 33.7 million ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) shares, raising its charter capital to nearly VND25.3 trillion, up 61 per cent against the beginning of the year.

FE Credit’s profit rose by 16 per cent to VND1.58 trillion (US$67.23 million) in the first half of this year as the company decided to cut lending growth to focus more on tightening internal governance and selecting solvent customers in order to target safer and healthier development.

With the slowdown, FE Credit’s profit accounted for only 36 per cent of VP Bank’s total profit, down significantly from 50 per cent in the same period of last year.

Nguyen Duc Vinh, VP Bank’s general director, also affirmed that the bank was planning to keep the growth rate low and reduce FE Credit’s contribution to the bank’s consolidated profit. — VNS