HCMCity (VNS/VNA) - Shareholders of Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial JointStock Bank (Sacombank) approved the bank’s financial statements for last year,a number of targets for this year, profit distribution plans and otherimportant proposals at its annual general meeting held online on June 5.

PhamVan Phong, the bank’s permanent vice chairman, said Sacombank had achievedpositive performances in most areas of operation in 2019.

Itsprofit before tax increased by 43.2 percent to 3.2 trillion VND (137.5 millionUSD), 21.4 percent higher than the target.

Itsreturn on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE) were 0.57 percent and 9.56 percent,up 0.11 percentage points and 0.28 percentage points year-on-year.

Earningper share was 1,119 VND, an increase of 338 VND from 2018.

Itstotal assets at the end of 2019 were worth over 453.58 trillion VND (19.4billion USD), an increase of 11.7 percent during the course of the year.

Ithad total deposits of over 414 trillion VND and loans outstanding of over 296.4trillion VND, year-on-year increases of 11.9 percent and 15.3 percent.

Itsnon-performing loans ratio declined by 0.22 percentage points to 1.9 percent,meeting the target of below 2 percent.

For2020 the bank targets increases of 10 percent in total assets and deposits and11 percent in outstanding loans.

Ittargets profit before tax of 2.57 trillion VND (110.6 million USD) andnon-performing loans of under 3 percent.

Explainingwhy the bank set a lower profit target for this year, Nguyen Duc Thach Diem,its CEO, said the COVID-19 pandemic had affected the global economy, including Vietnam’s.

“Sacombankhas received petitions from customers to restructure and reduce interest rateson total loans of nearly 25 trillion VND. This is a large number, and if (we)lower interest rates by 1-2 percentage points, the bank’s profits will reduce.”

Incase the epidemic is well controlled, the bank would make every effort toachieve profits equal to that of 2019 of over 3.2 trillion VND, she said.

Despitedifficulties, the bank achieved impressive growth in the first five months ofthe year, with its profit before tax topping 1.3 trillion VND, higher than inthe same period last year and equalling 50 percent of the year’s target, and abad debts ratio at 2 percent.

DuongCong Minh, the chairman, said 2019 was the third year of restructuring and thebank recorded many important achievements and has gradually regained itsposition in the market.

"Theroadmap for the restructuring project is over 10 years, but with such goodresults, we believe that by 2023 Sacombank will return to the position of oneof the leading banks in Vietnam."

Speakingabout dividends, he said the bank’s board of directors had sought the StateBank of Vietnam’s approval for paying dividends, but had yet to receive reply.

“Thebank has accumulated profits of more than 4 trillion VND. Banking is aconditional business sector, and so the bank can only pay dividends to shareholdersif it gets approval from the SBV. On behalf of shareholders we will continue topetition the SBV on this issue.”

Sacombankhas 570 transaction points in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia./.