Bank execs’ income in spotlight

The income of LienVietPostBank board members is among the top in the banking sector

The payments and bonuses leaders receive often becomes a hot topic during the banks’ AGM season, beside profit, bad debts, and dividend issues. At several banks which did not give dividends for shareholders, executives and supervisors’ paychecks still reached millions of dollars, making shareholders disgruntled.

At leading state-owned Vietcombank, the 2017 annual general shareholders’ meeting (AGM) set the reward for members of the Board of Directors and the Board of Supervisors at 0.35 per cent of the bank’s post-tax profit.

As the parent bank, Vietcombank earned VND8.84 trillion ($402 million) in post-tax profit last year and paid VND31 billion ($1.4 million) for the seven members of the Board of Directors and the four members of the Board of Supervisors, meaning that each member received VND2.8 billion ($127,200) on average last year.

Last year, privately-held VPBank paid about VND49 billion ($2.13 million) in wages and other allowances for members of the Board of Management, the Board of Supervisors, and the Board of Directors, a 47 per cent jump on-year.

With a total of 17 board members, each member received more than VND2.88 billion ($130,900) last year.

At the recent AGM of a medium-sized bank based in Ho Chi Minh City, the bank leaders had decided not to pay dividends for shareholders in 2017 to retain profit for reinvestment purposes to attract investors.

This decision came after the bank reported impressive business results last year, with profit figures surpassing VND10 trillion ($454 million), which made shareholders rather unhappy.

Last year, the 11 members of the bank’s Management Board and the Board of Supervisors received VND29 billion ($1.3 million) in pay and other allowances, down VND2 billion ($90,900) on-year.

Sacombank has more then doubled the pay and other allowances for its Board of Directors and Board of Supervisors compared to 2016, reaching VND18.5 billion ($840,900).

Meanwhile, the nearly 20 members of the Board of Management received more than VND54 billion ($2.45 million), down 15 per cent compared to last year.

On average, each of the bank’s executives received an average VND2.9 billion ($131,800) last year, averaging at VND238 million ($10,800) per month.

At private bank LienVietPostBank, the shareholders approved a sum of VND40 billion ($1.8 million) to pay for the eight members of the Board of Directors, averaging at VND5 billion ($227,200) for each, setting a record high for the executive position in the banking sector.

State-owned Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) set aside 0.44 per cent of its post-tax profit to pay board members and supervisors, each receiving more than VND2.2 billion ($100,000) on average.