VPBank's head office building in Ha Noi.— Photo courtesy of VPBank

The Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank) on Wednesday completed settling a total of VND3 trillion (US$129.7 million) worth of bonds sold to the Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC).

The bank has to make a provision of VND1.4 trillion for the bonds, equal to 45 per cent of the bad debts – the highest rate among all banks that have settled VAMC bonds.

According to the bank, settling VAMC bonds is one of the key tasks set for 2019 and it may have an impact on the bank’s full-year earnings. This is also the reason why VPBank eyes modest gains in its earnings.

Settling VAMC bonds also helps cut the bank’s total non-performing loan (NPL) ratio to 2.84 per cent in the third quarter of 2019 from 5.73 per cent recorded in last year’s third quarter.

Lower bad debt ratio would help VPBank save a lot of risk provision for the upcoming period, the bank said in a statement.

VPBank has in 2019 also made good efforts by applying digital technologies in its restructuring plan to increase productivity and efficiency and improve the quality of assets, thus creating a momentum for future growth.

In the January-November period, VPBank earned a total pre-tax profit of VND9.4 trillion, up 26.4 per cent on-year and equal to 99 per cent of the full-year target.

The bank in 11 months posted a 15.5 per cent growth in total lending, higher than the banking sector’s average.

Operation income increased by 22 per cent year-on-year in 11 months to nearly VND33 trillion on November 30, 2019.

The board of directors forecast VPBank will beat its pre-tax profit target of VND9.5 trillion by 10 per cent. — VNS