Besides profit and dividend payment plans, capital increase and bad debt settlement are issues that have received attention from bank shareholders at the 2025 shareholder meeting season.

At the annual general meeting of shareholders (AGM) on March 30, Chairwoman of NCB Bùi Thị Thanh Hương said the bank this year plans to issue 750 million private shares to increase its charter capital from VNĐ11.78 trillion to VNĐ19.28 trillion.

Answering shareholders' questions about NCB’s plan to use the VNĐ7.5 trillion additional capital this year – after a significant capital increase just last year – Hương said the capital rise plan comes from the urgent needs of the bank.

She explained that this capital will be used for two main purposes. First, the capital aims to ensure a capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of over eight per cent according to the State Bank of Vietnam’s CAR regulation, which is a strict requirement, especially for restructuring banks like NCB. If completed, NCB will meet this regulation, creating a solid foundation. Second, the capital is used to serve business activities and continue investment in digital transformation and technology, to improve operational efficiency.

Regarding the goal of recovering bad debts, General Director of NCB Tạ Kiều Hưng said that in addition to business activities and digital transformation, bad debt settlement is one of the key tasks of NCB this year. In 2025, NCB will focus on both bad debt recovery and control, of which at least VNĐ3.6 trillion in principal of debts will be recovered.

“We have conducted inspections and reviews of the entire risk control process. NCB has started applying early warning measures to control the quality of bad debt on the balance sheet at a maximum of one per cent from 2025 to 2030,” Hưng said.

Meanwhile, at the AGM on March 27, VIB set a pre-tax profit of VNĐ11.02 trillion for 2025, an increase of 22 per cent compared to 2024.

VIB plans to pay a dividend of 21 per cent in cash and shares this year. According to the proposal of the Board of Directors, VIB will pay a cash dividend at a rate of seven per cent of charter capital, equal to more than VNĐ2.08 trillion.

Besides, the Board of Directors of VIB also proposed a plan to increase charter capital from more than VNĐ29.79 trillion to over VNĐ34.04 trillion through the issuance of bonus shares to existing shareholders and employees.

In a discussion with shareholders, VIB Chairman Đặng Khắc Vỹ said the bad debt handling is one of the ‘hot’ issues of the entire banking industry. For VIB, credit risk management is always placed on par with two other important factors of growth and efficiency.

Currently, VIB's bad debt ratio is over 2 per cent, reflecting tight risk control, Vỹ said, expecting that the legalisation of Resolution No 42/2017/QH14 on piloting bad debt settlement of credit institutions will soon be passed by competent authorities to help recover debts faster and improve bank business results.

At the AGM on March 28, the Board of Directors of Nam A Bank submitted this year's pre-tax profit target of VNĐ5 trillion to shareholders for approval, an increase of 10 per cent compared to 2024.

Nam A Bank plans to pay a dividend of 25 per cent in shares and issue 85 million shares under the employee stock option programme to increase its charter capital from nearly VNĐ13.74 trillion to more than VNĐ18 trillion.

Vice Chairman of Nam A Bank’s Board of Directors Trần Ngọc Tâm said that the capital increase is necessary to improve Nam A Bank's financial capacity as well as increase competitiveness in the market. After completing the plans, Nam A Bank's CAR will reach 13.77 per cent, an increase of 1.11 percentage points compared to the end of 2024. — BIZHUB/VNS        

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