The Vietnam International Bank (VIB) posted a growth rate of 32 per cent in both total operating income and pre-tax profit in January-September at VND10.3 trillion (US$442 million) and VND5.3 trillion ($228 million) respectively, following its business results announced on Friday.

During the period, the bank maintained its leading position in the industry in terms of operational efficiency with return on equity (ROE) reaching over 29 per cent, the main driving force came from the retail segment and digital channels.

As of September 30, VIB’s total assets hit over VND285 trillion, surging 16 per cent compared to the beginning of the year. Of which, outstanding credit balance reached VND190 trillion, up 11 per cent, deposits from customers topped more than VND170 trillion, up 13 per cent while current account and saving account (CASA) saw impressive growth of nearly 20 per cent.

Over the nine months, VIB's retail segment continuously contributes over 85 per cent of the bank's loan portfolio, maintaining its position as the bank with the best retail ratio on the market.

As per the business results, the bank's capital adequacy ratio (CAR) under Basel II was managed optimally at 10.6 per cent, the loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) was 73 per cent. Operating expenses in the third quarter were comparable to the second quarter of 2021, with the cost-to-income ratio (CIR) maintained at 39 per cent.

In the third quarter of 2021, VIB actively supported its customers to overcome the impact of the pandemic with various policies such as reducing loan interest rates, reducing transaction fees and supporting loan structure. Besides the direct interest and fee reduction packages, VIB continued to support the interest payment structure in the following quarters to help stabilise the actual cash flow of each customer.

Although this temporarily affected the Q3 business results, VIB said that this was a reasonable and timely policy that showed its commitment to support valued customers over the years. VIB’s proactive and well-timed support helped its customers adapt to the ‘new normal’ situation.

The majority of the supported and structured customers had a repayment plan earlier than the support plan, so it was expected to have a very positive impact on the bank's Q4 business results.

Pioneering in applying IFRS to increase shareholder value, attract foreign investors

On 30 June 2021, VIB became one of the first two banks in Viet Nam to complete the audit report following the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for 2020.

According to 2020 audited IFRS financial statement results, VIB's equity was assessed to increase by more than VND1 trillion compared to VAS standards application.

By pioneering in applying international standards Basel II, Basel III, IFRS, VIB is highly appreciated by domestic, foreign investors, and financial institutions for its transparency. They also express their interest in the bank's issuance, capital, bonds, and capital mobilisation activities.

Breakthrough in speed, leading in product and service quality through extensive digitalisation

As one of the leading digital banks and the digital customer experience in Viet Nam over the years, VIB has focused on applying high technology such as Big Data, AI and cloud computing into its transactions, bringing outstanding digital customer service to users.

Users can easily open payment and saving accounts, transfer money, spending management and other banking services with a few clicks on our app. Especially, VIB is the pioneering bank in applying 100 per cent digital card opening process for all credit cards available on VIB website.

September 2021 marked an important milestone in VIB's digital transformation journey. The bank teamed up with Microsoft through a strategic collaboration agreement to deploy the multi-cloud computing platform and became one of the first banks in Viet Nam to develop a multi-cloud strategy.

This was a crucial stage in applying outstanding technology from the world's leading technology partner into financial products and services and to improve the Vietnamese customer experience for the banking industry and for VIB as well. — VNS