Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has asked the Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) to broaden its vision and grow to become among the largest banks in the Asian region through its newly approved restructuring plan until 2020.

During a meeting with Vietcombank staff after the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday on Wednesday, Phuc asked the bank to expand its size and branches, in a bid to narrow the gap with larger banks in the region.

He also suggested the bank develop banking technology and catch up with new technological trends, particularly in the fields of information, security and safety.

Under the bank’s restructuring plan until 2020, approved recently by State Bank of Viet Nam Governor Le Minh Hung, Vietcombank will be listed among the top 100 banks in Asia and the top 300 financial corporations in the world.

The governor also allowed Vietcombank to sell its shares to foreign investors in a private placement, according to the plan. The deal, if it occurs during the first months of 2018, will invigorate the market, Vietcombank’s chairman Nghiem Xuan Thanh said.

According to Phuc, Vietcombank led in complying with the Government’s policies. The bank is offering the market’s lowest lending interest rates, though it has not reduced its deposit interest rates, he noted.

Vietcombank’s total assets have exceeded VND1 quadrillion (US$44 billion), and its ratio of non-performing loans was down to 1.1 per cent, the lowest among domestic credit institutions, he said.

With pre-tax profits of more than VND11 trillion ($482.5 million) last year, Vietcombank was also Viet Nam’s first credit institution to have a profit exceeding VND10 trillion.

This was a record pre-tax profit posted by a Vietnamese bank, representing an increase of 32.9 per cent during the previous year’s same period, and 16 per cent higher than Vietcombank’s target.

The bank’s total deposits amounted to VND889.7 trillion, up 38.7 per cent year on year, and 18 per cent above the set target. Its outstanding loans reached VND553 trillion, an increase of 17.2 per cent.

On the same day, PM Phuc extended greetings to 24,000 employees of the Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank), in an event live-streamed in 155 branches of the bank nationwide, where he lauded Vietinbank’s successful equitisation, the growth of its technology-based banking services, and its efforts to manage bad debts and improve management efficiency.

He also mentioned the bank as a credit provider for the country’s key projects, backing the Government in achieving its goals.

He further asked Vietinbank to improve its competitiveness by building its financial and management capacity to meet international standards. The bank should adopt solutions to improve and control the quality of credit, strengthen bad debt management, and continue stepping up administrative reforms to provide start-ups and investors with easier access to loans, he said. — VNS