Who is leading the race for bank profits?

\>> Article in the Topic "Vietnamese banking panorama: From financial statements to economic pulse"

The profit picture continues to improve. In the context of credit recovery, capital costs improving and business activities gradually returning to excitement, most banks recorded positive growth results.

However, behind the figures of trillions of dong in after-tax profit is not just a story of scale. This year's picture also shows an increasingly clear differentiation between the leading banking group, the fast growing group and the group in the process of restructuring.

If a few years ago, the biggest question of the market was which bank makes the most money, now investors are starting to care more about where those profits come from and whether they are sustainable or not.

Top 10 banks with the highest after-tax profit in the first quarter of 2026

Vietcombank continues to hold the throne of profits

In the first quarter of 2026, the bank's profit after tax reached about 10,450 billion VND. This is the only bank that maintains a profit milestone of over 10,000 billion VND in just one quarter, thereby continuing to affirm its leading position in business efficiency in the industry.

The gap between Vietcombank and the rest of the market is still quite significant. CASA advantages, low capital costs, good asset quality and effective risk control continue to help the bank maintain the number one position.

Right behind Vietcombank is a group of banks with profits fluctuating around the threshold of 6,000 - 7,000 billion VND, including Techcombank, VietinBank, MBBank and BIDV. These are the names that have maintained the leading position for many consecutive years and are taking a large share. large "piece of cake" profit of the entire system.

The breakthrough of VietinBank and VPBank

In terms of growth rate, the story of the first quarter of 2026 belongs to VietinBank and VPBank.

VietinBank recorded a profit after tax growth of nearly 63%, reaching about 8,960 billion VND. This is one of the most impressive results in the large-scale banking group. It is worth noting that this growth is generated on an already very high profit base, showing that operating efficiency is improving significantly.

Meanwhile, VPBank also recorded a growth rate of nearly 61%, bringing profit after tax to about VND 6,329 billion. After a period of strong restructuring, VPBank's retail credit and consumer finance machine is showing signs of accelerating again.

Unlike many banks that rely mainly on corporate customers, VPBank continues to exploit its strengths in segments with higher profit margins. This helps the bank maintain a profit growth rate that surpasses many competitors with larger asset sizes.

The acceleration of VietinBank and VPBank also shows a notable trend: banking industry profits now come not only from expanding credit scale, but also from the ability to optimize capital costs and improve asset utilization efficiency.

Top 10 banks with the strongest after-tax profit growth

Small banking group is creating a surprise

ABBank is the most prominent name when recording profit growth of more than 260%, the highest among the 27 banks surveyed. Although the scale of profits cannot be compared with the leading group, this result shows that the bank has made significant progress in restructuring operations and improving business efficiency.

PGBank and BVBank also recorded growth of nearly 188% and 169%, respectively. These numbers reflect the positive impact from changes in shareholder structure, business strategy and operating cost optimization process.

Meanwhile, NCB continued to maintain its recovery momentum as profits increased by more than 43%. After a long period of difficulty, the bank is showing positive signs in the process of rebuilding operations.

The common point of this group is that the starting point of profit is still low, but the rate of improvement is very strong. This shows that the banking industry's profit picture is not only determined by the "big guys", but also has an increasing contribution from banks that are in the process of transition.

Stability of the mid-sized banking group

OCB, Nam A Bank, VietABank or KienlongBank all recorded profit growth from 30% to nearly 50%. These are not eye-popping numbers, but they do reflect sustained improvement in business performance.

In particular, OCB and Nam A Bank are gradually approaching the group of banks with profits of over 1,000 billion VND per quarter. This shows that the gap between the leading group and the following group is gradually narrowing.

Big profits are not the final story

However, when evaluating bank profits, scale and growth rate only reflect part of the story.

In the banking industry, profits are only truly valuable when supported by good asset quality and effective risk control capacity. This is the reason why investors often place profits next to indicators such as bad debt ratio (NPL) and bad debt coverage ratio (LLR).

Vietcombank continues to be the most prominent case when it both leads in profits and maintains a bad debt ratio of only about 0.62%, while the bad debt coverage ratio exceeds 250%. This shows that the bank owns a very large reserve buffer, helping current profits to be of higher quality and less pressured from future risks.

In the private banking group, Techcombank and ACB also maintain a relatively good balance between profit growth and asset quality. On the contrary, banks pursuing rapid growth strategies in segments with high profit margins such as VPBank or HDBank often have to accept higher bad debt ratios and thinner provision buffers.

That doesn't mean one strategy is better than the other. It just reflects different risk appetites in the banking industry's profit competition.

Bank profits are entering a new phase of differentiation

From the picture of the first quarter of 2026, the banking industry is still maintaining a positive profit growth momentum. Vietcombank continues to hold the leading position in terms of scale, while VietinBank and VPBank emerge as the names with the most impressive growth rates among the large banking group.

On the other hand, the small-scale banking group is also showing signs of strong recovery after many years of restructuring.

However, what is most notable is that the market is increasingly paying attention to the quality of profits instead of just looking at the absolute numbers. In an industry where risk always goes hand in hand with growth, the ability to maintain sustainable profits will increasingly become a determining factor in each bank's position in the coming years.

\>> Article in the Topic "Vietnam Bank Panorama: From financial statements to economic pulse"

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Source: TheLeader — theleader.vn. The article is reposted for the purpose of sharing knowledge for the founder and investor community in the ecosystem HCM VIF.