Continuously expanding market share while ensuring business safety.
(Baonghean)Mr. Phan Hoang Vuong, Director of Agribank Nghe An, stated: Currently, Nghe An province has 34 commercial banks, 49 grassroots people's credit funds, and many other financial institutions operating, creating a fiercely competitive environment. However, leveraging the strengths of its network of 69 transaction units, including the provincial headquarters; 21 district, town, and city branches; and 47 transaction offices, along with its brand reputation and proactive, innovative solutions, Agribank Nghe An has maintained stable growth and ensured business safety over the past years.
Total mobilized capital by the end of May 2013 reached VND 12,328 billion, an increase of VND 575 billion compared to the beginning of the year (a 4.9% increase), of which individual deposits reached VND 11,214 billion, accounting for 91% of the total capital. In the context of a difficult economic situation and low capital absorption capacity by businesses, many banks faced difficulties in lending and were dealing with excess inventory. However, Agribank Nghe An still achieved a total outstanding loan balance of VND 9,322 billion, an increase of VND 780 billion compared to the beginning of the year, a growth rate of 9.2%. Of this, loans to agriculture and rural areas accounted for over 85% of the total outstanding loan balance. Non-performing loans remained low, below 1% of the total outstanding loan balance.
Transactions at Agribank Nghe An.
Furthermore, with continuous efforts towards efficiency and quality, the branch's service activities have made good progress, notably with the issuance of 224,400 cards of all types to date. With this number, Agribank Nghe An is leading the market share in terms of the number of cards issued and for salary payments via card in the area. The number of customers registering to use Mobile Banking has increased rapidly, reaching 58,000 customers.
Service and payment activities continued to develop in the right direction, with remittance services reaching US$93.8 million in 2012 and US$39 million in the first five months of 2013. Remittance services have been a strength of Agribank Nghe An for many years.
From the moment the State initiated the policy of sending workers abroad, Agribank Nghe An promptly implemented and signed agreements and contracts with companies and units nationwide that recruit workers for overseas employment to coordinate loan provision and money transfer guidance. With its extensive network, Agribank Nghe An has consistently invested in infrastructure and equipment; upgrading the network for its branches in districts, cities, and towns, especially those in mountainous, remote, and isolated areas, so that these areas can implement high-quality and fast remittance payment services.
To date, 69 out of 69 branches have implemented capital mobilization, foreign exchange trading, and remittance payment services; the payment volume of branches in rural and mountainous areas accounts for over 85%.
To achieve these positive results, recognizing the crucial role of its staff in guiding customers and handling operations from lending to money transfers, Agribank Nghe An consistently organizes training and professional development courses to promptly address difficulties and obstacles, find solutions to improve credit quality, diversify services, enhance quality, and satisfy all customer requirements.
The Agricultural and Rural Development Bank of Nghe An province is also constantly strengthening and improving its management capacity and accessibility to the people, creating more favorable conditions for customers in transactions and innovating investment structures, prioritizing production, especially agriculture, rural areas, and small and medium-sized enterprises... While focusing on developing the Agribank brand, the bank is also actively upgrading its technical infrastructure and investing in modern transaction points in the area to best meet customer needs. It is also deploying more and more new products and services to increase customer choices.
Along with business development, social welfare is a constant focus of the branch. Recently, Agribank Vietnam and Agribank Nghe An donated 3 billion VND to Nghe An province to support the construction of a service building at the Truong Bon Historical Site (2.5 billion VND) and 500 million VND to the Nghe An Provincial Education Promotion Fund.
Speaking about future directions, Mr. Phan Hoang Vuong, Director of Agribank Nghe An, shared: "We will continue to closely follow local economic development programs and the new rural development program to expand credit. We will implement the housing loan program in accordance with Government Resolution No. 02/NQ-CP."
The long-term goal is to build an Agribank culture to maintain and develop the brand. This includes maintaining and expanding market share in the region, ensuring safety in business operations, upholding the primary goals of efficiency and service quality, contributing to job creation, poverty reduction, and jointly building new rural areas in Nghe An province.
Thu Huyen
