HANOI, VIETNAM - Media OutReach - 7 November 2018 - Moody's Investors Service has just upgradedthe baseline credit assessment (BCA) and adjusted BCA of Vietnam InternationalBank (VIB) to B1 and Counterparty Risk Assessment (CRA) to Ba3. Previously,right after upgrading the Government of Vietnam's long-term issuer and seniorunsecured ratings to Ba3 from B1, Moody's upgraded the long-term local andforeign currency bank deposit and issuer ratings of VIB to B1 from B2 on August14, 2018.

The upgrade in VIB's BCA and other banks'is driven by the higher Macro Profile of Vietnam, progress in writing offlegacy problem assets and profitability of the banks, according to a reportfrom Moody's.

In addition to the upgrade, VIB wasrecognized by State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and Vietnam Asset Management Company(VAMC) as one of five banks to re-purchase all bad debts that VIB sold to VAMC.Moody's and VIB expect profitability for VIB to improve over the next 12-18months as the burden of credit costs is reduced because the bank has no debt atVAMC.

VIB is also known as one of the only twolocal banks ready to apply Base II standards. To date, VIB has completed theimplementation and waited for SBV's approval for applying the standards in2018.

The financial institution is now one ofbanks with best profitability ratios and risk management in Vietnam. As VIB'sprofit before tax reached VND1,720 billion in the first 9 months 2018, itsreturn on equity ratio (ROE) reached nearly 20% and expected to go up inQ4/2018. The bank's capital adequacy ratio (CAR) is more than 12% and CAR,under Basel II, is over 9.5%.

Earlier, Moody's held a conference named"Inside ASEAN - Spotlight in Vietnam" in HCMC on September 2018, assessingVietnam's economy, Vietnamese banking system's ratings, giving forecast on theeconomy's outlook and local bank's performance in 2019. Mr Ho Van Long, DeputyCEO at VIB, is the only representative from local banks to be invited byMoody's to join panel discussion in the conference.

Analysts from Moody's expected Vietnamesebanks' asset quality and profits to set to improve in 2019. Raising new capitalfrom external funding and retained profits provided banks with better capitalfoundation. Moody's analysts also asserted that Vietnamese banks' CAR isimproved but still lower than their peers in the region.