ACB – No misuse in corporate bond issuance; heavy investments in technological transformation – Analyst Meeting Note

In September 2025, the Government Inspectorate found that ACB used bond proceeds for short-term loans instead of medium- to long-term credit as stated in the bank’s issuance plan. However, this issue stemmed from data reporting errors, not misuse. ACB has clarified the matter and authorities have accepted the explanation. 

Of the VND3.7tn bonds issued, VND1.5tn have matured while VND2.2tn remain outstanding, used for the intended purpose and secured by Government bonds. 

ACB will offer an early buyback to concerned bondholders and reaffirmed its full compliance and transparency, with no penalties imposed by the regulators. 

9M 2025 credit growth reached 15.2% YTD, outperforming the system-wide rate of 13.4%, supported by both the corporate and retail segments.  

Within retail lending, total growth reached 11% YTD, led by mortgage loans (+17% YTD), while household business loans increased modestly by 5%. 

Corporate lending rose 20% YTD, with large corporates up 49% and SMEs up 10%, reflecting stronger demand in key business sectors. 

ACB views the real estate market as being on a steady recovery path and maintains a positive outlook for the sector. The bank expects upcoming draft policies on price control and loan ratios for second-home or investment buyers to be balanced, supporting stability without constraining growth. Therefore, ACB plans to continue expanding its mortgage segment and lending to property developers.  

2025F outlook: The bank expects to fully utilize its credit quota, targeting credit growth of around 18% or higher for the full year. 

Q3 2025 performance: ACB’s NIM remained under pressure in Q3 2025, primarily due to tight system liquidity, which drove a notable increase in funding costs. In addition, intensifying competition among banks and ACB’s strategic focus on low-risk, high-quality borrowers resulted in narrower lending spreads, as the bank prioritized maintaining superior asset quality.  

Outlook: NIM pressure is expected to persist through Q4 2025; however, management targets a gradual stabilization of NIM. This is supported by the recovery in CASA deposits, which began improving in recently after a period of decline due to the increased familiarity among household business and SME clients with new tax and invoicing regulations. In addition, ACB’s strategic shift toward medium- to long-term lending should help improve NIM from 2026F onward.  

Provisioning under IFRS 9: Due to ACB’s low NPL ratio and high proportion of secured loans, preliminary calculations indicate that provisions under IFRS 9 will be significantly lower than those required under the current Vietnamese Accounting Standards (VAS). 

Transition to Basel III and IRB approach: The bank is proactively implementing a pilot project to adopt the Internal Ratings-Based (IRB) approach under SBV Circular 14. Early assessments suggest that ACB’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) will increase notably once the IRB model is applied, compared with the current standardized approach. 

ACB has submitted a plan to implement Basel III and IFRS 9 to the SBV in October 2025. The bank expects to benefit significantly once these frameworks are officially adopted.  

Core vision: Build an effective financial services group spanning securities, non-life insurance (planned), fund management, leasing, and gold, with selective exploration of digital assets.  

Subsidiary contribution: Subsidiaries’ PBT contribution has risen from ~2% Q2 2025 to ~6% Q3 2025 and is targeted to increase materially over the next five years, supported by ACBS scaling up, the planned non-life insurer (target launch: 1H26), and the gold business ramp-up. 

Investment scale: ACB plans to invest approximately USD100mn to USD150mn per year for strategy execution and digital transformation. 

Implementation phases: (2025–2026) This period will be focused on establishing capabilities. Profit growth will not be very high during the initial years due to high investment costs. Breakthrough profitability is expected in the middle and later stages of the strategy (from 2027 onward).