Transactions at Vietinbank. — Photo courtesy of Vietinbank

HÀ NỘI — Vietinbank, listed as CTG, posted pre-tax profit of more than VNĐ7.4 trillion (US$319.6 million) in the first half of the year, representing a 40 per cent year-on-year increase.

Vietinbank has announced its financial report, saying that in the context of weak growth in net interest income due to the reduction of lending interest rates to support customers, its non-credit business segment showed positive growth results.

In the first six months of 2020, the bank’s net interest income only increased by 0.2 per cent over the same period to VNĐ16.2 trillion.

In return, the bank shifted its income structure, boosting non-credit income to bring positive results. Profit from service activities in the period increased by 10.5 per cent over the same period, reaching VNĐ2.16 trillion. Profit from foreign exchange trading increased by 31.7 per cent to VNĐ1 trillion.

Earnings from securities trading increased by 185 per cent to VNĐ389 billion. Other operating profit also increased strongly by 36 per cent to VNĐ470 billion.

In the first half of the year, interest from non-credit activities contributed 21.5 per cent to the bank's total operating income, up from 17.3 per cent in the same period of 2019.

Similar to many other banks, VietinBank began tightening operating expenses, down 3.8 per cent in the period, to VNĐ6.6 trillion.

Risk provision expense decreased by 10.6 per cent to VNĐ6.6 trillion.

As of June 30, VietinBank's loan balance is VNĐ941.4 trillion, up by 0.7 per cent from the same period last year. Its total assets reached nearly VNĐ1.24 quadrillion, down slightly by 0.1 per cent compared to the beginning of the year. Customer deposits increased by 2.3 per cent to VNĐ913.3 trillion.

VietinBank's bad debt on June 30 was VNĐ15.9 trillion, accounting for 1.7 per cent of total loans.

In the first six months, the bank bought over VNĐ6 trillion of bad debts at Việt Nam Asset Management Company (VAMC), bringing the total value of debt purchased to date (after about 1.5 years) to nearly VNĐ6.8 trillion. VietinBank also made a risk provision of about 50 per cent of the debt value, speeding up the restructuring plan associated with handling bad debts in the period of 2016-20. — VNS