We attended MBB’s AGM on April 25. The meeting’s main agenda was to propose 2023 guidance and seek shareholder approval for dividend plans.

2023 guidance includes credit growth of 15% YoY (final growth subject to the State Bank of Vietnam’s (SBV) decision regarding the allocation of MBB’s top-up quota), the NPL ratio to be kept below or equivalent to 2.0%, and profit before tax (PBT) of ~VND26.1tn (USD1.1bn; +15% YoY) vs our forecast of VND25.0tn (+10% YoY). Furthermore, CIR is targeted to be controlled at below 30%.

MBB proposed (1) a stock dividend plan (680 million shares — 15% of outstanding shares) and (2) a cash dividend of 5% (VND500/share) using 2022 retained earnings.