Profits of the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) by the end of September are estimated to exceed the VND11 trillion (US$470 million) that the bank gained in the entire 2017.

The figure is up some 50 per cent against the same period last year.

With the rise, the bank is expected to soon surpass the VND13 trillion profit target set for 2018 at the bank’s annual general meeting of shareholders.

According to the bank, the central bank’s decision not to expand credit growth will not affect its business performance in the remaining months of the year, though the bank has already nearly exhausted the credit growth limit of 15 per cent allowed by the central bank.

The 15 per cent credit growth rate set for Vietcombank was reasonable, the bank’s representatives said, adding that it considered the credit crunch an opportunity to continuously restructure and enhance credit quality and credit risk management.

Accordingly, the bank has been shifting credit towards more efficient projects that have better collateral, and the retail banking segment that has better profit margins.

Besides, Vietcombank has been also boosting services, targeting the business segment to account for 30 per cent of its total income.

In 2018, Vietcombank targets pre-tax profit to rise by 14.6 per cent year on year to VND13 trillion from its record-high VND11.3 trillion made in 2017.

The bank also targets a yearly increase of 14 per cent in total assets and 15 per cent in both mobilised capital and credit. It also plans to cut its non-performing loan ratio (NPL) to below 1.5 per cent. — VNS