Big lenders drive a strong 2025 finish for banking

Vietnam’s banking sector closed 2025 on a largely positive picture, even as funding costs, margin pressure, and rising provisioning deepened the divide between large banks and their smaller peers.

- By Hazy Tran

Some banks rolled out large-scale preferential credit initiatives

(Photo: Le Toan)

Reporting at a 2026 business plan implementation conference held on January 6, BIDV’s management said that by the end of December, all key business indicators had met or exceeded targets set by the State Bank of Vietnam and shareholders.

Consolidated pretax profit exceeded $1.44 billion. Of this, subsidiaries contributed more than $59.6 million, while profits from joint ventures and associates surpassed $58.8 million. Outstanding credit reached over $92 billion, up 15.2 per cent from 2024 and nearly double compared to early 2021.

Pham Nhu Anh, CEO of MB, shared preliminary results showing record-breaking performance in 2025. MB’s pretax profit is estimated at $1.35 billion, up around 17 per cent from the 2024 consolidated figure of $1.15 billion.

Total assets by year-end 2025 are projected to approach $60 billion, up roughly 33 per cent from the start of the year and well above initial targets, while customer deposits reached around $42 billion.

Similarly, in a New Year message, To Huy Vu, chairman of the Board at Agribank, highlighted strong results. By year-end, Agribank’s total assets exceeded $100 billion, up 12.1 per cent from earlier in the year. Outstanding loans to the economy reached nearly $80 billion, rising more than 16 per cent, while deposits climbed to approximately $94 billion.