A Techcombank office in Hà Nội. Techcombank will issue 3.5 million shares to its employees under an employee stock ownership plan. — Photo Techcombank

The Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank) plans to issue more than 3.5 million shares for its employees in the form of an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) at the price of VND10,000 per share.

Techcombank said in a statement that of the total, 325,000 bonus shares will be set aside for the bank’s foreign employees while the remaining shares will be for Vietnamese workers.

The issuance will take place this year after it is approved by the State Securities Commission. The bonus shares will be available for trading.

At Techcombank’s annual general meeting in April, the bank’s shareholders approved a plan to issue 10 million shares under the ESOP programme at a price of VND10,000 to increase its charter capital to more than VND35 trillion.

Techcombank has targeted pre-tax profit of more than VND11.7 trillion (US$504.3 million) for this year, which would represent a 10 per cent year-on-year increase.

The bank also plans to increase its total assets by 17 per cent to VND375.8 trillion this year while holding outstanding loans at VND245.4 trillion, up 32 per cent from last year. Its bad debts will be limited to less than 2.5 per cent in 2019.

Techcombank posted a pre-tax profit of VND5.7 trillion and revenue of VND9.1 trillion in the first half of 2019, up 32 per cent and 19 per cent from the same period last year, respectively.

Techcombank's shares ended Monday’s morning trading session at VND21,500 per share, down 1.8 per cent from the end of last week. — VNS