BUSINESS UPDATE

According to the 2022 financial statement, ACB recorded a consolidated credit growth rate of 14.3% (15.2% for individual banks), pre-tax profit growth of 43%. In 2022, ACB’s asset quality was maintained with the 7th consecutive year NPL below 1%. Outstanding Covid debt restructuring continued to decrease sharply. The bank’s NIM for the whole year reached 4.1%, a record high.2023 Business Expectations: A conservative lending approach and focusing retail segment business model will help ACB maintain its profit growth momentum in 2022. We expect the business strategy to be maintained. Technology investment & digitalization will attract more clients to the bank, enhancing CASA ratio, NIM, service income and the overall bank’s profit in the long run.
In 2023, we expect the bank to have a credit growth of around 13%, a stable NIM while the CIR ratio will decrease slightly given the absence of VND1,000 bn technology investment reserve fund as in 2022, thereby, contributing to the bank’s PBT grow by 15%yoy.

RECOMMENDATION
We believe that ACB’s business will remain stable in alien with its retail banking strategy, no significant exposure to the high-risk sectors.
We recommend “Buy” ACB, with a 6–18-month target price of 29,500/share, corresponding to the expected rate of return of 19%.