The Big Four Banks Roll Out Dividends in Late August, with Many Others Preparing to Follow Suit with High Yields

Four Banks Finalize Shareholder Lists by Late August for Dividend and Bonus Share Payouts

Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OCB – Code: OCB) recently announced that August 30th is the record date for finalizing the list of shareholders eligible to receive a 20% stock dividend (shareholders owning 5 shares on the record date will receive 1 new share).

As planned, the bank will issue nearly 411 million shares to pay dividends to shareholders. The source of the issuance is the undistributed post-tax profit balance accumulated until the end of 2023. After the issuance, OCB’s charter capital is expected to increase to nearly VND 24,658 billion.

Prior to OCB, Vietnam Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MSB – Code: MSB) also finalized August 29, 2024, as the record date for eligibility to receive 2023 dividends in shares with a ratio of 30%.

Accordingly, MSB will increase capital by issuing shares to pay dividends from profits retained as per the audited financial statements as of December 31, 2023, after deducting funds as stipulated by law. The issuance ratio is 30% of the total outstanding shares (100 shares owned will receive 30 new shares), equivalent to issuing 600 million new shares. With this ratio, MSB becomes the bank with the highest dividend payout ratio this year.

After the capital increase, the total number of outstanding shares will be 2.6 billion shares, corresponding to a new charter capital of VND 26,000 billion.

Vietnam International Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VIB – Code: VIB) also announced that August 23, 2024, is the record date for finalizing the list of shareholders eligible to receive bonus shares.

Accordingly, VIB will issue nearly 431.3 million bonus shares to shareholders from its owner’s equity, equivalent to a ratio of 17% (shareholders owning 100 shares will receive 17 new shares). The total value of the issuance at par value is VND 4,312.6 billion, with the source of issuance being the supplementary capital reserve fund and undistributed post-tax profits as of the end of 2023. After this issuance, VIB’s charter capital is expected to increase by nearly VND 4,313 billion.

The Board of Directors of Southeast Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SeABank – SSB) also passed a resolution approving August 26, 2024, as the record date for shareholders to receive dividends in shares and shares issued to increase capital from owner’s equity in 2024.

Specifically, SeABank will issue 329 million shares to pay dividends to shareholders, equivalent to an issuance ratio of 13.18%. At the same time, the bank will issue an additional 10.3 million shares to increase capital from owner’s equity, equivalent to a ratio of 0.4127%. Thus, the total ratio of the two above methods is 13.6%.

Thus, four banks will finalize their shareholder lists by the end of August to proceed with dividend and bonus share payouts to shareholders.

Several Other Banks Are Also Implementing Dividend Payment Plans

Along with MSB, OCB, VIB, and SeABank, many other banks also plan to pay dividends in shares in the coming months, before the end of 2024.

After finalizing the list of shareholders on July 15 to pay a 10% cash dividend, HCM Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank (HDBank – HoSE: HDB) is implementing a plan to divide a 20% stock dividend as per the resolution passed by the General Meeting of Shareholders. Accordingly, shareholders whose names are on the list on the record date will receive a 100:20 stock dividend (owning 100 shares will receive 20 new shares).

The record date will be announced after obtaining approval from the relevant authorities, expected to be in Q3 2024.

After issuing shares to pay dividends, HDBank’s charter capital will increase by a maximum of VND 5,825 billion to over VND 35,900 billion. This will help HDBank continue to be among the banks with the largest charter capital in the system, ensuring safety indicators and high operating efficiency.

Similarly, Saigon-Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB) is also implementing a plan to pay a 11% stock dividend, expected to increase its charter capital to VND 40,658 billion. The bank is also completing its dossier and submitting it to the management agency, preparing to implement the issuance of a 11% stock dividend for 2023 in Q3 2024.

Previously, SHB finalized its shareholder list on July 19 to pay a 5% cash dividend. With nearly 3.7 billion shares currently in circulation, SHB has paid out more than VND 1,800 billion in cash dividends to shareholders.

In addition to the three banks mentioned above, the three giants VietinBank, Vietcombank, and BIDV also plan to pay dividends in shares in the near future. Since the beginning of the year, none of these three banks have finalized their shareholder lists to pay stock dividends or increase charter capital.

In the report sent to the National Assembly on the implementation of Resolution No. 43/2022 on fiscal and monetary policies to support the Program of Recovery and Sustainable Development, the Government has updated the progress of capital increase of joint-stock commercial banks with more than 50% state-owned capital.

For Vietcombank, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) is collecting comments from relevant ministries on the draft Government Report and draft National Assembly Report on additional state capital investment in Vietcombank through dividend payment in shares from retained earnings until the end of 2018 and 2021 profits (VND 20,695 billion).

In addition, Vietcombank also plans to increase capital by issuing shares to pay dividends for 2022 and 2023. It is estimated that if all the announced capital increase plans are implemented, Vietcombank’s charter capital will increase to VND 130,243 billion.

At VietinBank, the SBV is also collecting comments on the draft Prime Minister’s Report and the draft Decision of the Prime Minister on the investment plan to supplement state capital in VietinBank through dividend payment in shares from profits retained during the 2009-2016 period and in 2021 (VND 7,948 billion).

At the 2024 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, VietinBank Chairman Tran Minh Binh also stated that the bank has received permission from the State Bank and the Ministry of Finance to retain the entire 2022 profit (VND 11,678 billion) to increase capital through stock dividends.

Regarding BIDV, the 2024 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders approved the plan to issue nearly 1.2 billion shares to pay 2022 dividends, equivalent to a ratio of 21% of the outstanding shares at the end of 2023. The implementation time is expected to be in 2024-2025. The BIDV Board of Directors will decide on the specific time after obtaining approval from the competent authority.