Sacombank earns US$51 million in H1 pre-tax profit

VNStockNews.com - Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank - coded STB), 10% owned by Australia's ANZ, said its first-half gross profit reached 905 billion dong ($51 million), up 20% from a year earlier, thanks to strong lending.

Sacombank, the country's sixth-largest lender by assets, said in a statement on Wednesday that its loans totalled 47.64 trillion dong at the end of June, up 36% from the end of last year.

The Ho Chi Minh City-based lender said its bad debt fell to 0.71% of loans last month from 0.76% in April.

Sacombank's credit growth in the first half was nearly double that in the entire Vietnamese banking system, which the central bank estimated at 17.01%.

The lender's total assets reached 82.76 trillion dong at the end of June, 21% higher than at the end of 2008.

The World Bank's International Finance Corp, Dragon Capital and ANZ Bank together own 30% of Sacombank, the ceiling for foreign ownership of listed banks in Vietnam.

Sacombank has forecast that its gross profit would rise 47% this year to 1.6 trillion dong after a fall in 2008.

Sacombank shares closed up 0.85% at 35,300 dong. (Reuters)