Agribank to restructure, revert focus to agri, rural devt

Vietnam may approve the plan to restructure Agribank this February, wherein it reverts its focus to agriculture and rural development.

According to Agribank Chairman, Nguyen Ngoc Bao, the restructuring process is scheduled to last for 3-4 years.,

The state-owned commercial bank will continue maintaining its market shares in urban areas such as Hanoi and HCM City, yet it will only focus on three main tasks: funds mobilization, services development and brand promotion, especially product quality improvement.

Currently, Agribank is managing in total nine businesses operating in such fields as insurance, stock, gold, financial leasing, etc. However, after restructuring, the bank will only keep those companies that do business in financial-monetary sector, directly related to Agribank’s operation, Bao said.

By the end of last year, the bank’s capital adequacy ratio soared from 6.4% to 8% while its bad debts accounted for 6% of Agribank’s total outstanding loans, down from mid-year figure of 6.7%. The state-run lender expects its CAR ratio to reach 9% given that it receives the government’s approval to raise charter capital to VND30 trillion. Agribank also plans to curb non-performing loans ratio below 5% in 2012 and average 3% during 2015-2020 period.