KienlongBank (KienlongBank, UpCoM: KLB), a commercial bank, has recently published its financial report for the fourth quarter of 2023. The results indicate positive signs in the overall financial landscape of the bank.
As of December 31, 2023, KienlongBank’s total assets reached VND 86,972 billion, an increase of 1.1% compared to the end of the previous year. Customer deposits reached VND 56,897 billion, up 3.2%, and credit balance reached VND 52,580 billion, up 8.1% (including customer loans of VND 51,783 billion, up 15.8% compared to the end of 2022).
In the fourth quarter, KienlongBank recorded a net profit of VND 542.6 billion; service revenue reached VND 144.6 billion, while net revenue from foreign exchange and securities trading brought in VND 22.3 billion and VND 31.8 billion, respectively. Compared to the same period last year, net profit and service revenue slightly decreased, but revenue from foreign exchange and securities trading showed strong growth (compared to a loss in the same period last year).
Pre-tax profit for the final quarter of 2023 of KienlongBank reached VND 79.5 billion, bringing the total profit for 2023 to VND 719 billion, achieving 102% of the plan approved by the General Shareholders’ Meeting in April.
Regarding the 2023 business results, representatives of KienlongBank stated that, within the digital transformation strategy, the bank has allocated a significant portion of its resources to technology investment and digital conversion to increase productivity and enhance customer service effectiveness. This is also one of the major costs in the bank’s overall operating expenses in the quarter. However, in order to achieve dual goals of building a solid foundation for breakthroughs and maintaining business efficiency, KienlongBank has proactively optimized operating costs, thereby reducing overall costs and ensuring profitability meets the plan.
In the past year, KienlongBank has also focused its lending activities on manufacturing, business, priority sectors, and growth drivers according to the Government’s direction, while considering prioritizing lending based on the Green Classification List, providing loans to meet people’s housing needs, and tightly controlling credit in sectors with potential risks. At the same time, through debt restructuring, the bank has created favorable conditions for individual customers, small and medium enterprises, cooperatives, high-tech production application models, and value chain participation to access credit, and develop business.
In addition, in 2023, KienlongBank made concerted efforts to support the people and businesses by continuously reducing lending interest rates 8 times, with a total reduction of over 3%, surpassing the targeted range set by the Government and SBV (1.5 – 2%). Not stopping there, at the beginning of 2024, understanding the spending and business needs of customers, KienlongBank has implemented a preferential program of 0% interest rate loans, with the hope of providing strong support, increasing access to capital for customers in this crucial period.
Remarkably, thanks to strict risk management measures and cautious risk appetite, with the aim of reducing lending to risky sectors, KienlongBank’s non-performing loan ratio remained below 1.5%, which is low compared to the market and ensures compliance with the State Bank’s regulations. In addition, in the fourth quarter of 2023, KienlongBank proactively used its resources by setting aside VND 229 billion as provisions to increase resources, enhance buffers, cover bad debts, make efforts to control the non-performing loan ratio below the prescribed limit, and reduce provisioning pressure for the coming years, as well as mitigate the impact of bad debts in the future.
Expecting the recovery momentum of the Vietnamese economy in 2024, to fulfill the goals in the assigned important plan, KienlongBank closely follows the directives of the Government and SBV. This lays the groundwork for implementing key solution groups such as focusing on enhancing management and operational capacities, emphasizing internationally recognized governance, strengthening supervision, compliance with regulations and standards in banking activities, resolutely implementing restructuring solutions, handling bad debts, and promoting digital transformation.
In addition to market-sensitive business policies, KienlongBank also aims for sustainable development and selective growth, serving as a prerequisite to becoming a leading bank in the retail segment, supporting consumer needs and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The bank is also deploying digital products and expanding its network of partnerships with bank agents and e-commerce platforms to further enhance the customer experience, establishing a diverse digital ecosystem to meet the needs of different customer groups.
