Despite gaining positive profits, total assets of many small banks by the end of the first quarter of this year decreased compared to last year due to a drop in deposits.

According to Petrolimex Group Commercial Joint Stock Bank (PGBank)’s Q1 financial statement, its total assets by the end of March 2022 fell by 7 per cent compared to the end of 2021 to only VND37.79 trillion.

Of the PGBank’s assets, cash increased by 36 per cent compared to the beginning of the year to VND252 billion while deposits at the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) decreased by 48 per cent to VND539 billion. The bank’s lending to customers also dropped by 8 per cent to VND25.36 trillion while deposits of corporate and individual customers at the bank slightly fell by 3 per cent to VND27.35 trillion.

A positive point at PGBank in Q1 2022 was its bad debts, which decreased by 8 per cent to VND635 billion.

Similarly, the total assets of Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank for Industry and Trade (Saigonbank) by the end of March 2022 were VND23.43 trillion, down 4.8 per cent over the beginning of the year. Specifically, cash was slightly up by 2.9 per cent to VND211 billion and lending to customers increased by 0.9 per cent. Meanwhile, the bank’s deposits at the SBV declined by more than 11 per cent and deposits at other credit institutions also sharply fell by more than 21 per cent to only VND4.42 trillion. Deposits of corporate and individual customers at the bank also inched down by 0.5 per cent.

The same trend was also seen at Viet A Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VietABank), whose total assets as of March 31, 2022 decreased by VND10.03 trillion to VND91 trillion compared to the end of 2021. The cause of this decrease mainly came from the reduction of deposits at the SBV (down by about VND1.08 trillion); and of gold and cash deposited at other credit institutions and loans to other credit institutions (down by about VND7.98 trillion).

By the end of Q1 2022, VietABank’s customer deposits reached VND67.56 trillion, inching down 0.2 per cent; while the lending to customers was VND56.82 trillion, up 4.3 per cent.

The total assets of Bac A Commercial Joint Stock Bank (BacABank) as of late Q1 2022 also fell slightly by 2 per cent compared to the beginning of the year, reaching VND117.07 trillion, with its deposits at the SBV and other credit institutions declining significantly by 41 and 32 per cent to VND600 billion and VND5.92 trillion, respectively.

Meanwhile, BacABank’s lending to other credit institutions, and corporate and individual customers grew by 36 and 3 per cent to VND2.59 trillion and VND86.98 trillion, respectively. The bank’s customer deposits also slightly increased by 2 per cent to VND95.03 trillion. — VNS