Representatives of SeABank answered investors' questions at the General Meeting of Shareholders in late April. — Photo courtesy of the bank

HÀ NỘI — As the economy is expected to experience a turbulent year in 2023, SeABank sets an orientation of sustainable growth with a targeted profit before tax of over VNĐ5.6 trillion (US$240.1 million), the bank stated at its recent General Meeting of Shareholders.

The 2023 General Meeting of Shareholders approved the bank's business plan for 2023, of which its total assets are expected to gain 10 per cent, while net deposit mobilisation reaches VNĐ18 trillion, up 12 per cent on-year, with the priority in current account saving account (CASA).

It also targets to raise net credit by 11 per cent year-on-year to VNĐ16.2 trillion and concentrate on risk management and bad debt control at less than 3 per cent.

This year, SeABank expects to increase its charter capital from VNĐ20.4 trillion to VNĐ25.9 trillion by issuing dividend and bonus shares with a rate of nearly 20.3 per cent, offering private shares at a rate of more than 4.6 per cent, and release shares under the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP).

The meeting also approved the election of seven members of the Board of Directors during the 2023 - 2028 period, including two foreign members who are Mathew Nevil Welch and Fergus Macdonald Clark.

The Board of Directors continued to elect Lê Văn Tấn as its Chairman, Nguyễn Thị Nga to be Permanent Vice President, while Lê Thu Thủy and Khúc Thị Quỳnh Lâm are Vice Presidents.

In addition, Vũ Thị Ngọc Quỳnh, Nguyễn Thanh Luân and Vũ Thu Thủy are chosen to be members of the Supervisory Board, led by Quỳnh.

In the new term, the Board of Directors agreed to continue completing the corporate governance system to develop SeABank in a healthy, efficient and transparent manner, and satisfying the standards of safety of banking operations according to laws and international practices and standards as recommended by international organisations such as IFC and DFC.

At the meeting, the bank also set a priority in the implementation of Environmental - Social - Governance (ESG) standards at the governance level to bring long-term benefits to shareholders as well as create opportunities for investors to access and invest in the bank in the future.

To consolidate the entire senior staff, at the beginning of 2023, SeABank officially appointed Loic Faussier, who has more than 25 years of experience working in many important positions in financial institutions and major banks in France, Hong Kong and Japan, to be the bank's General Director.

This is one of the strategic steps of the Board of Directors to strengthen the management and administration capacity to strongly implement the development plan of SeABank in the future.

Last year, SeABank achieved outstanding results despite the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. It posted a profit before tax of nearly VNĐ5.1 trillion, completing 104 per cent of the yearly plan, with the return on average assets of 1.83 per cent and return on average equity of 18.1 per cent.

The ratios showed the bank's performance was in the top of the banking system last year. Particularly, its ebank users grew at an impressive milestone level of nearly 1 million new users in 2022.

The positive results were attributing to its flexible changes in business activities to adapt to reality, diversify revenue sources, and actively develop digital technology, said SeABank. — VNS