More banks permitted to expand credit growth

The credit quota for Military Bank has been lifted from  一 五 per cent to  一 七 per cent for  二0 一 八. - Photo MB

HÀ NỘI –– The State Bank of Việt Nam (SBV) recently decided to allow more co妹妹ercial banks to expand their credit growth limits in  二0 一 八.

The credit quota for Military Bank (MB) has been lifted from  一 五 per cent allocated at the beginning of the year to its new level of  一 七 per cent, the Bản Việt Securities Company reported.

Credit expansion was also allowed at VPBank with a rise from  一 五 per cent to  一 七 per cent, meaning the bank will be allowed to lend an additional VNĐ 三 trillion (US$ 一 二 八 million) in the last month of the year.

Techcombank was the first to get the nod for credit expansion from the SBV last month. The bank’s credit growth was lifted from  一 四 per cent to  二0 per cent this year. As a result, Techcombank was permitted to lend an additional VNĐ 六- 八 trillion in  二0 一 八.

The move is good news for the banks. The few months ahead of the country’s biggest festival Tết (Lunar New Year), which will fall in February  二0 一 九, is often the peak lending season but many banks have already hit their credit growth quotas for  二0 一 八. At the beginning of the year, the SBV set a credit growth limit for each co妹妹ercial bank – ranging from  一 二- 一 六 per cent for the year – depending on the bank’s health.

According to the central bank, only a limited number of banks will be allowed to extend their credit limits depending on their financial status and handling of bad debt. The three aforementioned banks were among the few banks to have cleared all their debts with the Việt Nam Assets Management Company (VAMC). –– VNS