Customers at a VPBank branch in Ha Noi. — Photo cafef.vn

The Viet Nam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPB) has bought back 24.7 million shares, equivalent to 49.5 per cent of the registered amount, in the period from October 2 to 11.

The bank needs to buy 25.3 million more shares in the second half of October.

At the end of September, VPBank announced that it had planned to buy back 50 million shares in the market, equivalent to nearly 2 per cent of the charter capital, from October 2 to October 31, under either agreement or matching method.

The purchase aims to stabilise stock prices in the market and increase the rate of return per share for investors, VPBank said.

Capital for the purchase was sourced from undistributed profits.

By the end of 2018, VPBank's undistributed profit stood at VND6.3 trillion (US$269.3 million).

At a meeting with market experts in the middle of last week, VPBank's leaders said the buying back of shares would not affect the bank's capital adequacy ratio.

As of June 2019, VPBank's equity was more than VND38.2 trillion. The bank's capital adequacy ratio stood at 11.2 per cent, much higher than the minimum level of 8 per cent, calculated under the Basel II standards.

Buying back stocks will not affect the capital source for the expansion of business operations because VPBank still has many other options to increase capital, VPBank said. — VNS