Some banks' profits improve, State Bank injects money to pay banks

Banks' profits in the first quarter of 2024 gradually revealed

As of now, a number of banks have disclosed pre-tax profits in the first quarter of 2024. Most of the numbers are positive.

Like SeABank, by the end of the first quarter of 2024, the unit had achieved VND 1,506 billion in pre-tax profit, an increase of nearly 41% over the same period in 2023. SeABank's total operating income reached VND 2,706 billion, an increase of 19.54%, while total revenue reached VND 6,438 billion, an increase of 4.6%. In particular, net non-interest income reached VND 705 billion, an increase of nearly 51% over the same period.

As of March 31, total outstanding customer loans reached VND181,238 billion, a net increase of VND1,487 billion. SeABank's bad debt ratio was controlled at 1.95%, while the bad debt coverage ratio reached 86.84%.

As of the end of March 2024, SeABank's total assets were VND 271,614 billion, an increase of 2.06%, equivalent to a net increase of VND 5,492 billion compared to the end of the previous year, the bank's charter capital was VND 24,957 billion.

Also recording positive growth, at the ACB General Meeting of Shareholders, Mr. Tran Hung Huy - Chairman of ACB said that by the end of the first quarter, ACB's profit was estimated at VND4,900 billion. However, the profit decreased slightly compared to the same period last year by about 5% due to the unusual revenue from debt settlement in the same period last year.

The bank's leaders also said that in the first quarter, ACB's capital mobilization grew by 2.1%, of which demand deposit mobilization over total deposits (CASA) increased by 6.4%, the CASA ratio improved by 22% to more than 23%.

At OCB, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tung, General Director of OCB, said that OCB's pre-tax profit in the first quarter of 2024 will reach about 1,000 - 1,200 billion VND (in the same period in 2023, it reached 983 billion VND, an increase of 18% over the same period in 2022).

Another bank, VIB, General Director Dang Khac Vy, responded to shareholders that the bank's pre-tax profit by the end of the first quarter of 2024 is estimated to reach VND2,600 billion, equivalent to the same period last year.

According to the forecast of MBS Securities Company, this year, many banks will have high profit growth in the first quarter of the year, such as VPBank and OCB, which are likely to record the highest profit growth in the industry, at 175% and 86% respectively.

MBS forecasts first quarter profit growth of about 43-44% for VietinBank and HDBank, with full-year growth of 15% and 31% respectively.

In addition, the banking group that MBS forecasts to have positive growth in the first quarter also includes Sacombank, Techcombank, BIDV, MB, and Vietcombank.

However, there are still banks that are forecast to have poor profit growth such as MSB, TPBank, and Eximbank.

Credit growth recovers despite weak demand

Along with business results, ACB leaders said that ACB recorded a credit growth rate of 3.7% in the first quarter, more than double the growth rate of the entire industry, and also surpassing the same period last year.

At VIB, by the end of the first quarter of 2024, VIB's credit growth is estimated at 1%; of which 95% of loans are secured by assets, mainly pink books, red books, even for small, retail loans such as buying a house... VIB's current bad debt ratio is about 2.4% and measures to reduce bad debt are being implemented by VIB.

At OCB, the bank's leader said that growth was 4.6% in the first quarter, confirming a much higher growth rate than the industry average.

State Bank injects large amount of money to pay banking system

Today (April 8) is the maturity date of the 28-day treasury bills issued by the State Bank of Vietnam in the March 11 session (the first cash withdrawal session after a 4-month pause). Accordingly, the amount of money injected by the State Bank of Vietnam is nearly VND 15,000 billion.

When the USD/VND exchange rate was tense, the State Bank continuously issued treasury bills to absorb excess liquidity in the banking system. Through 19 sessions, the cumulative amount of treasury bills successfully issued reached nearly 172,500 billion VND.

This operation of the State Bank is also believed to be the reason why interbank overnight interest rates have jumped to their highest level in nearly a year.

In addition, recently, the State Bank has pumped money through the OMO lending channel for banks in need.

Vietcombank Securities Company (VCBS) assessed that in the coming time, the State Bank will flexibly use the Open Market Purchase (OMO) and Treasury Bills tools in the open market.

"The SBV's operations in the open market to reduce exchange rate pressure will not cause too rapid changes in liquidity in the banking system; instead, maintaining low interest rates and supporting access to capital for businesses and people is still a priority," VCBS's analysis team emphasized.

Source