Vietnam: Banking assets reach 291 billion USD

Hanoi, December 12 (VNA) - The total assets of Vietnam's banking industry reached 6,174 trillion VND (291.22 billion USD) by the end of October, according to statistics provided by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV). Banking assets rose by 6.3 percent over the end of last year, reported the central bank. Only commercial banks and co-operative credit institutions witnessed an increase in assets, while joint ventures and foreign banks posted declines. Finance companies and financial leasing companies revealed a decrease in assets as well. The central bank reported that the total assets of joint-stock commercial banks had reached 2,624 trillion VND (123.7 billion USD) at the end of October, rising by 1 percent over the end of September and 6.5 percent over December 2013. The assets of State-owned banks were valued at 2,172 trillion VND (102.5 billion USD), which are up 8.27 percent over last year's December. The total assets of co-operative credit institutions reached nearly 84.8 trillion VND, rising by 1.18 percent and 17.51 percent over the end of last month and last year, respectively. With 691.1 trillion VND in assets, joint ventures and foreign banks posted a decline of 1.96 percent in assets over December 2013, while those of finance companies and financial leasing companies dropped by 4.45 percent to 62.53 trillion VND. The central bank also reported that the returns on assets ratio of the banking system was at 0.51 percent while returns on equity was 5.49 percent, which were much lower than 0.79 percent and 10.34 percent in 2012, respectively. The capital adequacy ratio of the system was 13.22 percent, which was higher than the minimum ratio of 9 percent.-VNA