
MANY BANKS STOP TRANSACTIONS OF ATM MAGNETIC CARDS
According to Sacombank, it stopped issuing new magnetic cards in 2017 and encouraged customers to switch to chip cards. At the same time, the bank has gradually removed magnetic cards that were unused or had very few transactions since 2019, when the State Bank of Vietnam issued a set of basic standards for domestic chip cards.

BANKS LEND SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS TO GREEN PROJECTS
By participating in the package, enterprises can access preferential loan interest rates, receive quick and timely disbursement, and get consulting support from a team of competent experts. The package will last until December 31, 2025.

BANKING STOCKS REMAIN ATTRACTIVE IN FINAL QUARTER
“Deposit interest rates have shown slight increases at commercial banks, but the rise is not significant, and net interest margins (NIMs) will have a lag of 3-6 months. Therefore, we expect NIMs to slightly decline in the fourth quarter. Listed banks will continue to show profit divergence. Some banks are projected to achieve pre-tax profit growth of 10-15 per cent this year. The banking stocks we consider promising include BIDV, VietinBank, MB Bank, LP Bank, Techcombank, OCB, and ACB,” stated the report.

MANAGING TAX RISKS IN E-COMMERCE
In the first half of 2024, tax authorities addressed violations involving 4,560 taxpayers including 1,274 enterprises and 3,286 individuals, resulting in tax collections and fines totaling VND297 billion. With domestic e-commerce revenue estimated at VND1.98 trillion and taxes paid amounting to approximately VND54,000 billion, there is still much room for further tax collection, according to official assessments.

CROSS-BORDER E-COMMERCE TO BE BOOSTED
As Vietnam is an export-oriented economy with abounding potential for the development of textile apparel, footwear, rice and agricultural products, the room for cross-border e-commerce development proves enormous, Anh added.

BANKS TO SHIFT TO RETAIL LENDING TO GAIN CREDIT GROWTH
In the first half of 2024, corporate credit became the main driver of growth for many banks. Some banks such as VPBank, VIB and TPBank, which were known for specialising in lending to individual customers and classified by many organisations as retail banks, recorded outstanding corporate loans of more than 50 per cent by the end of the second quarter of 2024.

CONSUMER FINANCE REGAINS GROWTH MOMENTUM
Consumer finance firms have enjoyed a buoyant performance so far this year after facing a tough 2023. In EVNFinance JSC's second quarter (Q2) financial statement, the company posted $6.1 million in pre-tax profit, soaring 57 per cent on-year, pushing the company’s cumulative pre-tax profit in the first six months (H1) to $12.94 million, marking a 56 per cent jump on-year.

BANKS UNDER PRESSURE TO INCREASE CHEAP CAPITAL SOURCES
The cheap capital sources have become more important for banks when they have to reduce lending interest rates to boost credit growth, while still having to increase savings interest rates to lure depositors for the past three months. In this context, the cheap capital helps banks reduce lending rates to increase competitiveness while still maintaining high net interest margins (NIM).