A VIB logo is seen on a building in HCM City. — Photo courtesy of the bank

HÀ NỘI — Vietnam International Bank (VIB) has announced its results for the first nine months of 2023, with revenue on a good growth trajectory, business efficiency ranked at the top of the industry, and a strong and sound balance sheet.

In the first nine months, VIB recorded a total revenue of over VNĐ16.3 trillion (US$663.8 million), up 22 per cent on-year. The bank’s strong growth has been fuelled by core business segments, including retail banking, corporate banking and capital resources.

The bank's net interest income topped VNĐ13 trillion ($529.4 million), up 18 per cent on-year, while its non-interest income contributed 20 per cent to total operating income.

Its operating expenses remained well under control at VNĐ4.84 trillion ($197.1 million), a slight increase of 4.5 per cent on-year. As a result, the cost-to-income ratio shrank to 30 per cent, placing VIB near the top of retail banks with the best cost management efficiency in the industry.

VIB's pre-provision profit grew significantly to nearly VNĐ11.5 trillion ($468 million), up 31 per cent compared to the same period last year. This figure stood at VNĐ4.3 trillion ($175 million) in the third quarter, the bank's highest rate ever.

Besides stable growth for its business performance, VIB also set aside VNĐ3.15 trillion ($128 million) for provision, more than 3.4 times higher on-year, to improve asset quality and create a solid provision buffer.

Pre-tax profit was more than VNĐ8.3 trillion ($339 million) in the period, up 7 per cent on-year, while return on equity hit 27 per cent.

By the end of September, VIB's total assets stood at VNĐ384.5 trillion ($15.7 billion), climbing 11 per cent from the beginning of the year. By stepping up its growth strategies, VIB's outstanding credit balance topped VNĐ247 trillion ($10.1 billion), up 5 per cent compared to the beginning of the year.

VIB's credit growth jumped 4.5 per cent in the third quarter, double the average growth rate of the banking industry at 2.2 per cent.

VIB's non-performing loan (NPL) rate is maintained at 2.47 per cent, off the peak of 2.62 per cent in the first quarter of 2023. Most are real estate loans, of which 60-70 per cent are secured by collateral. Under its strict collateral policy, 99.5 per cent of real estate secured assets are properties with land use rights certificates, so the rate of capital loss on these NPLs is very low.

VIB has one of the lowest concentrations of risk in the market, thanks to its efforts to maximise risk dispersion. At the end of the third quarter, the outstanding balance was 86 per cent of the total outstanding balance. In addition, VIB is also cautious about granting credit to high-risk industries.

VIB's outstanding loans for activities and fields such as build-operate-transfer projects, renewable energy, corporate bond guarantees and real estate bond investments were all zero. 

VIB said its capital mobilisation reached nearly VNĐ258 trillion ($10.5 billion) in the same period. Customer deposits topped VNĐ214 trillion ($8.7 billion), surging 7 per cent against the beginning of the year. The growth drivers come from a 10 per cent increase in mobilising retail customer deposits, of which the current account savings accounts of retail customers climbed 9 per cent in that time.

VIB is known as a pioneer in the application of international standards in Việt Nam. In 2019, it was the first bank in Việt Nam to successfully complete the three pillars of Basel II. It was one of the first banks to deploy and audit financial statements according to International Financial Reporting Standards in 2019, six years ahead of the Ministry of Finance's expected roadmap of 2025.

During the process of auditing financial statements from 2019 to the end of 2022, the basic data of VIB's audited reports under International Financial Reporting Standards and Vietnamese Accounting Standards were quite similar, especially the key metrics such as credit loss, equity and profit.

After completing Basel II, VIB deployed the components of Enhanced Basel II and Basel III. In the third quarter of 2023, VIB was appointed by the State Bank of Việt Nam (SBV) to be a member of the Steering Committee for implementing Enhanced Basel II and Basel III for the banking industry.

VIB is also one of the few commercial banks to have received the highest ranking from the SBV, based on high scores for capital adequacy, asset quality, governance, business results and liquidity.

VIB's brand and reputation in the first nine months of the year were also reinforced with awards from Forbes, International Finance magazine, Vietnam Records Organisation, and VN50. VIB is one of six banks to feature in the Top 50 best-listed companies in Việt Nam for three consecutive years, as voted by Forbes (2021-23).

Last August, VIB set two records for Super Card, the first credit card in Việt Nam that allows users to create features for the card, and VIB Checkout, a digital banking application. In addition, MyVIB 2.0 is 2023's fastest-growing mobile banking application in Việt Nam, according to International Finance magazine. — VNS