Bank profits in the first quarter of 2026: VietinBank broke through in profits, narrowing the gap with Vietcombank

Three state-owned banks Vietcombank, Vietinbank and BIDV have just announced their business results for the first three months of the year.

Vietcombank continues to hold the “champion” position in industry profits with more than 11,800 billion VND in pre-tax profit in the first quarter. Although recording the highest profit in the system, the growth rate is only about 9% over the same period, mainly due to a sharp increase in provision costs when bad debts increase and the bank maintains a cautious provisioning stance.

Vietcombank’s group 4 debt (doubtful debt) as of the end of the first quarter was 7 times higher than at the beginning of the year. According to regulations, banks must make specific provisions up to 50% of group 4 debt value. At the same time, Vietcombank also maintains a cautious stance when maintaining a bad debt coverage ratio of over 250% – the highest level in the system.

Following closely behind Vietcombank, “giant” VietinBank recorded a pre-tax profit of VND 11,100 billion, an increase of more than 60% over the same period last year and also the strongest increase among the state-owned group.

This bank said that the average credit size in the first quarter increased by more than 14% over the same period. The bank proactively restructures its portfolio, prioritizing manufacturing sectors according to the Government’s direction, thereby reducing dependence on risky industries such as real estate. According to bank leaders, about 60% of Vietinbank’s outstanding loans focus on the retail segment, helping to diversify revenue sources and disperse risks.

Meanwhile, BIDV recorded pre-tax profit of about VND 8,500 billion, an increase of more than 15% over the same period. Despite maintaining growth momentum, this bank is still the unit with the lowest profit among the three “big guys”.

It was noted that in the first three months of the year, capital mobilization growth at banks was significantly lower than credit growth.

Deposit balance at Vietcombank increased by less than 0.6% compared to the beginning of the year while deposit growth at Vietinbank was about 1.7%.

At BIDV, customer deposits even decreased by 3.7% compared to the beginning of the year to about 2.14 million billion VND. Of which, demand deposits (CASA) decreased sharply by more than 11% and term deposits also decreased by about 1.7%. To compensate for liquidity, this bank promoted the issuance of valuable papers.

In the first quarter, all three banks recorded an increase in bad debt and a shift to higher risk groups.

In the first three months of the year, group 4 debt at Vietcombank increased suddenly 7 times. Meanwhile, group 3 debt at BIDV and VietinBank both increased at least twice compared to the beginning of this year, reflecting the pressure of customers to repay debt in a difficult economic context.

BIDV is the bank with the highest bad debt ratio in the group, at 1.76% and is also the unit that recorded the strongest increase. In contrast, VietinBank recorded a slight decrease in bad debt ratio to about 1%, thanks to a significant reduction in outstanding loans of group 5 (debts with potential loss of capital).

At this year’s congress season, Vietcombank Chairman, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tung also commented that market developments are very complicated, from the macroeconomic situation to the international market. This directly impacts many important and essential sectors and industries of the economy, which are also the areas where banks are providing credit.