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Vietcombank pretax profit increases in first half
Joint-Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam, the first of the nation’s state-owned banks to sell shares, reported first-half profit increased due to earnings from currency trading.
The bank’s pretax profit rose to more than VND2 trillion (US$119 million), as fees from the credit-card business also climbed, Chief Executive Officer Nguyen Phuoc Thanh said last week.
The figure isn’t consolidated profit, he said.
Hanoi-based Bank for Foreign Trade, known as Vietcombank, didn’t immediately release figures for the year-earlier period.
The bank has recently announced that it will cut the interest rate charged for dong denominated loans by 1 percentage point to 20 percent a year, and by 0.5 percentage point to8.5 percent for US dollar loans, after the prime minister instructed lenders to ease access to funds for companies.
Vietcombank plans to resume talks early next month with overseas companies on a strategic partnership, Thanh said.
The lender’s negotiations last year with companies including General Electric Co. and Nomura Holdings Inc. were halted because they couldn’t agree on the price.
The government in December raised VND10.5 trillion from selling a 6.5 percent stake in the bank at an average price of VND107,860 share.
The lender on June 18 said it will delay its trading debut on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange until the third quarter after the stock market plunged.
It had initially planed to list the shares in June.
Thanhnien
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