OCB confident in 39% profit growth target for 2026

Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OCB) held its 2026 annual shareholders meeting in Ho Chi Minh City on April 15, where shareholders asked about the basis for the bank’s 2026 profit growth target of 39%, to VND 6,960 billion.

Shareholders’ questions on risks and asset quality

At the meeting, shareholders raised concerns about ongoing tensions in the Middle East, which could keep oil prices elevated, as well as rising costs for materials and living expenses. They also asked whether OCB’s bad debt could rise again.

OCB’s stated foundations for the 2026 target

OCB leadership said the plan is supported by several factors:

• Credit growth as a key driver: The bank expects credit growth to remain central to performance. In addition to its traditional strengths, OCB plans to expand into agriculture, services, and technology. It also expects lending to SME and FDI to continue accelerating after growth in 2025. Retail is also described as showing positive signs. OCB intends to push lending for high-yield products with acceptable risk, restructure earning assets toward higher-yield products, and thereby improve net interest margin (NIM) and scale.
• Stronger service fee income: With a prudent credit ceiling, OCB said not all customer credit demand may be met, so it will support customers with alternatives such as financial advisory, bond issuance advisory, and cash management. The bank also said its retail segment has expanded its middle-class and high-net-worth client base (MF, AF), creating a foundation for new investment and wealth-management product bundles.
• Operating cost optimization through technology: OCB plans to reduce costs by increasing the use of technology in operations.
• Asset-quality control and debt recovery: The bank will continue to focus on debt management and recovery. OCB said that in 2025, the volume of debt recovery and workout rose nearly twofold, and it expects this to continue in 2026. It also plans to implement measures to more tightly control non-performing loans, provisioning costs, and cash inflows.

Chairman’s remarks on past performance and current resolution

Chairman Trịnh Văn Tuấn added that after the 2011–2013 crisis, OCB grew strongly in efficiency, evolving from a small bank into a mid-sized bank. He said that from 2022–2024, business activity stagnated due to shifts in monetary policy, but management identified the issues and improved the situation, which he said has been essentially resolved.

Bad debt profile and 2025 recovery results

OCB said its bad debt is mainly concentrated in retail customers with collateral, while corporate non-performing loans are very low. The bank reported that in 2025, control and recovery of bad loans improved significantly, with recoveries rising twofold. OCB leadership said these results provide the basis for setting a high plan for 2026.