One of Vietnam’s largest banks reported surging profits last year, as the Southeast Asian economy turned a corner from the “perfect storm” of 2023.
The Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank, or Techcombank for short, reported pretax profit of 27.5 trillion Vietnamese dong ($1.09 billion), a 20.3% increase from the year before. Operating income rose 17% to hit 47 trillion dong ($1.86 billion), thanks to growth in loans and wealth management services. Techcombank’s investment banking fees totaled 3.46 trillion dong ($137 million) last year, up 88%.
CEO Jens Lottner said on an earnings call Tuesday that he expected Vietnam’s economy to grow about 7% this year, as companies continue to shift their supply chains to the Southeast Asian country.
Manufacturers have invested billions in Vietnam to diversify their supply chains away from China. That’s grown the country’s trade surplus with the U.S.—which might put the country at risk of new tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump.
Lottner also said a recovering real estate sector will boost Vietnam’s growth in 2025. Vietnam’s real estate sector went into a slump in 2023 as some heavily leveraged developers experienced a credit crunch, and after a multi-billion dollar graft scandal hit market confidence.
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Vietnam’s economy grew by 7.1% last year, beating government forecasts of 6.5%. Officials hope that growth will hit 8% this year.
Techcombank, No. 114 on Fortune’s Southeast Asia 500, caters to Vietnam’s growing pool of middle-income earners. It’s invested heavily in digital services to attract younger Vietnamese.
The bank added close to 2 million new customers last year, giving it a total customer base of about 15.4 million. More than half of these customers were acquired digitally.
Techcombank launched an “auto-earning” feature last year that encouraged customers to deposit money in the bank. The bank automatically moves money deposited beyond a certain threshold into a higher-interest account; it can also shift money back to the main account if the balance falls below that threshold.
The Vietnamese bank reported deposits of 565.1 trillion dong ($22.36 billion) last year, a 24% increase.
Techcombank shares have risen almost 40% over the past 12 months, compared to a 6% drop in the MSCI Vietnam index over the same period.
