Eximbank says 2008 pretax profit rose 57 pct

Vietnam Export-Import Commercial Joint-Stock Bank, backed by Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., reported pretax profit rose 57 percent last year as deposits increased.

Profit at Eximbank, as the lender is known, increased to VND988 billion (US$56.5 million) from VND629 billion the previous year, Dao Hong Chau, vice general director, said in a telephone interview Monday from Ho Chi Minh City.

Deposits rose 41 percent last year, Chau said, without providing a year-earlier figure. Eximbank’s total assets rose 45 percent to VND48.8 trillion, he said.

The HCMC-based lender delayed its plan to list shares this year due to the global financial crisis.

Eximbank has sold a 15 percent stake to Sumitomo Mitsui, Japan’s third-largest bank by revenue, 5 percent to VOF Investment Ltd. of the Virgin Islands, and 4.5 percent to Mirae Asset Exim Investment Ltd. of South Korea, it said in a report released at a shareholders’ meeting last November.

 Bloomberg

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