Vietnam’s TPBank Sees 2023 Profit Jump, in Foreign Loan Talks

Vietnam’s Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank expects its pretax profit to rise 15% next year as the nation’s pioneer in adopting automation technology benefits from cost savings, according to Chief Executive Officer Nguyen Hung. 

“We see a 15% rise in pretax profit next year is quite doable as we aim to increase using robotic process automation and machine learning in our system so we can save costs and relocate our employees to more productive jobs,” Hung said in an interview Friday. Such technology has helped the lender reduce about 30% of its operational costs, he added. 

TPBank, with about 95% of its transactions processed digitally, is the first Vietnamese lender to adopt so-called Live-Bank, a video-teller-machine system that allows clients to deposit or transfer money, and open instant credit cards with facial and fingerprint authentication. 

With 500 such machines across the country, TPBank expects to increase its number of customers to 10 million next year from about 8 million this year, according to Hung.

“Having these live-bank machines is so critical as it helped us quicken the reallocation of our resources for new business model and expand profits,” Hung said, adding that the bank has reassigned about 800 employees from routine clerical works to “more creative and profitable jobs.”

Known as TPBank, the lender is also in talks with “some foreign partners” as it seeks ways to fund an expansion next year amid growing interest from overseas investors, Hung said without elaborating. It currently has $150 million of loans from Asia Development Bank and IFC.

Vietnamese lenders and companies are looking for alternative ways to attract foreign capital for growth after authorities’ recent crackdown on corporate bond market has made it difficult for them to sell debt onshore. 

Hung also expects TPBank’s total assets to rise at least 14% next year.