Five years old is known to be the year associated with zodiac signs in the 12-year cycle. According to the ancient beliefs of the Vietnamese people, the five-year-old is also understood as the limit year, not bringing good luck to people who are in that age or witnessing many different changes in life. In particular, the Year of the Quý Mão (2023) was a difficult year for the entire banking industry, making the management of bank leaders even more challenging.
In fact, despite being “five years old”, many banking bosses of the Mão age have achieved many good results. According to Eastern horoscopes, people of the Mão age (1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987) are considered intelligent, resourceful, quick-witted, and have a keen eye, looking far and wide. With these advantages, many Mão business people have achieved great success in their careers.
In the Vietnamese banking industry, there are some senior Mão leaders such as BIDV General Director Le Ngoc Lam, and MB Board Chairman Luu Trung Thai.
MB Board Chairman – Luu Trung Thai
Mr. Luu Trung Thai was born on December 5, 1975 (At Mao), has a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Hawaii, USA; and a Bachelor’s degree in Credit Finance from the Banking Academy.
Starting as a credit employee in 1997, 10 years later, Mr. Thai took on the position of Director of MB Da Nang branch. After more than 26 years with MB, he has held important positions in MB such as branch director, personnel director, deputy general director, and is currently the general director.
During the period from 2011 to April 2014, Mr. Thai was entrusted with the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of MB Securities Joint Stock Company (MBS) and left many strong imprints during the company’s restructuring process.
On April 24, 2013, Mr. Thai was elected as a member of the Board of Directors of MB for the term 2009 – 2014 and was formally assigned the position of Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors in September 2013.
Next, Mr. Luu Trung Thai was appointed as the CEO of MB from January 2017.
2023 is a major milestone for Mr. Thai when on April 12, 2023, he was officially elected as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of MB.
2023 is also the year when MB has achieved impressive business results, proving its differentiated position in a difficult market. Accordingly, MB grew strongly in scale with total assets increasing by approximately 30% to reach VND 950,000 billion, maintaining its non-term deposit ratio (CASA) at over 40%, the highest in the industry. MB’s consolidated profit reached over VND 26,306 billion, ranking third in the system. The profitability is high with ROA and ROE reaching 2.5% and 25% respectively.
MB still maintains sustainable customer growth, with the total number of MB customers reaching nearly 27 million as of December 31, 2023. 2023 is the third consecutive year that MB has attracted more than 6 million new customers (6.2 million in 2021, 6.9 million in 2022, and 6.3 million in 2023).
BIDV General Director – Le Ngoc Lam
Mr. Le Ngoc Lam was born in 1975 (At Mao) and holds three degrees, including a Bachelor’s degree in Credit from the Hanoi Banking Academy (from 1992 – 1996), a Bachelor’s degree in English from Hanoi University of Foreign Studies (from 1995 – 1998), and a Master’s degree in Finance – Lending and Credit from the National Economics University (from 2001 – 2004).
In 1997, Mr. Lam started working at the Head Office of BIDV at the age of 23. Throughout 25 years of perseverance and dedication, he went from an ordinary employee to holding various positions as a high-level leader of the Executive Board, taking on many different responsibilities.
Since March 2009, he has been Deputy Director of the Credit Risk Management Department of BIDV.
Since October 2010, he has been Deputy Director of BIDV Trading Branch 1. Since April 2012, he has been Director of BIDV Credit Risk Management Department. Since April 2013, he has been Director of BIDV Enterprise Customer Department.
From January 15, 2015, he was appointed Deputy General Director of BIDV.
From November 15, 2018, he was assigned the task of Deputy General Director in charge of the BIDV Executive Board.
On March 12, 2021, he was elected by the BIDV shareholders’ general meeting to join the BIDV Board of Directors for the term 2017-2022, and was assigned the position of BIDV General Director by the Board of Directors.
Mr. Lam was appointed by BIDV’s Board of Directors to the position of General Director to enhance the capacity of executive management, successfully implementing BIDV’s development strategy for 2021 – 2025 and its vision by 2030. In addition, the bank also aims to perform better as the main and leading player in implementing monetary policies and serving the increasingly strong economic development of the country.
In 2023, BIDV has completed its set business plans. The bank’s total assets by the end of 2023 exceeded VND 2.3 quadrillion, an 8.5% increase compared to the beginning of the year. With this asset scale, BIDV continues to lead the industry in terms of total assets, surpassing other major players in the industry such as VietinBank (VND 2.033 quadrillion), Agribank (VND 2 quadrillion), Vietcombank (VND 1.839 quadrillion). At the end of 2023, BIDV’s pre-tax consolidated profit reached nearly VND 27.650 trillion, a 20.6% increase compared to 2022. This is the first time BIDV’s profit has exceeded $1 billion and is the second highest profit in the banking industry, only after Vietcombank (VND 41.244 trillion).
In terms of asset quality, BIDV’s non-performing loans at the end of 2023 amounted to VND 22.229 trillion, an increase of 22.9% compared to the beginning of the year. As a result, the non-performing loan ratio to total outstanding loans increased from 1.19% to 1.25%; the coverage ratio for bad debts decreased from 210% to 182%.
