Massive dividends on offer to bank shareholders

Vietbank has announced November 29 as the record date for shareholders to receive dividends in the form of shares at a rate of 25 per cent.

Photo: baodautu.vn

The Hanoi-based lender plans to issue nearly 142.8 million new shares for this purpose, drawing from undistributed cumulative profits as of December 31, 2023. Following the issuance, Vietbank’s charter capital will increase by nearly $59.5 million to reach $297.4 million.

In late October, southern lender HDBank received approval from the central bank (SBV) to raise its charter capital by $242.7 million via stock dividends.

This plan, ratified at HDBank's 2024 annual general shareholders meeting (AGM) in April, will be funded from undistributed post-tax profits.

After paying dividends at 20 per cent, the bank’s charter capital will touch $1.45 billion.

At an extraordinary AGM on November 16, LPBank shareholders approved a 2024 charter capital increase plan through issuing shares as dividends for 2023 at 16.8 per cent.

Post-issuance, the bank’s charter capital is expected to reach $1.24 billion, placing it among the top 10 banks in this regard.

Among state lenders, Vietcombank, VietinBank, and BIDV are awaiting decisions from relevant management authorities to proceed with dividend payments as approved by their shareholders. None of these banks have so far distributed dividends in 2024.

On November 30, the National Assembly is expected to vote on a resolution of the eighth session, which includes a decision to invest additional state capital in Vietcombank.

If approved, this major state lender may soon issue shares to distribute dividends, increasing its charter capital by $1.15 billion.

This move would scale up its charter capital to $3.48 billion, making it the largest in the banking sector, surpassing VPBank at $3.3 billion and Techcombank at $2.93 billion.

At its 2024 AGM in late April, BIDV approved a plan to issue nearly 1.2 billion shares as dividends for 2022, equivalent to 21 per cent of its outstanding shares at the end of 2023. The scheme is expected to be expedited between 2024 and 2025.

VietinBank, despite proposing a capital increase plan earlier, has seen slower progress.

Its most recent dividend payout was in December 2023, funded by the remaining profit from 2020, which raised its charter capital to $2.23 billion.

During its recent extraordinary AGM on October 17, chairman Tran Minh Binh announced that the bank had received approval from the SBV and the Ministry of Finance to retain all profits from 2022 of more than $486 million for a stock dividend to replenish its capital sources.

According to the consolidated financial reports for Q3 of this year, the total undistributed profit of 27 listed banks approximated $19 billion, up $4.1 billion, or 28 per cent, compared to the end of 2023.

After deducting profits attributable to their subsidiaries, the total amount available for shareholder dividends is estimated to exceed $16.6 billion.

Revision forces banks to reveal more shareholders The new regulations of the revised Law on Credit Institutions, made effective a month ago, aim to curb the influence of affiliated entities on banking operations.

Banks conducting massive bond issuances Besides attracting deposits to meet the heightened credit demand at the end of the year, banks are racing to issue bonds to replenish capital sources.

Vietcombank and MBBank to acquire Construction Bank and Ocean Bank The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) announced a decision for the mandatory transfer of CBBank and Ocean Bank to Vietcombank and MBBank, respectively, on October 17.