Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the MSc in Finance TRUONG YEN PHI ID No. 21071812 Intake 5 Supervisor: Assoc. Do Thi Kim Hao Banking Academy of Vietnam September, 2022 1 17014126251831000000 Table of Contents CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .Error! Bookmark not defined.4 Scope of research.Error! Bookmark not defined. 10 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.
Error! Bookmark not defined.Error! Bookmark not defined.Error! Bookmark not defined.2 The internal factors .Error! Bookmark not defined.Error! Bookmark not defined.2 Captial adequacy ratio (CAR) .Error! Bookmark not defined.3 Non-performing loans (NPL) .Error! Bookmark not defined.Error! Bookmark not defined.3 The external factors .1 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) .Error! Bookmark not defined.2 Empirical Studies Review. 15 CHAPTER 3: DATA AND METHODOLOGY. 21 CHAPTER 4: EMPIRICAL RESULTS .2 Regression model results. ROA estimation with Random Effects.
ROE estimation with Random Effects. ROA estimation with Fixed Effects. ROE estimation with Fixed Effects. Data for the estimation.
43 3 List of Tables Table 1: Listed joint-stock commercial banks of Vietnam. 17 Table 2: Symbols of the variables. 19 Table 3: Expected results of variables upon bank profitability. 23 Table 4: Summary of Descriptive statistics.
25 Table 5: Correlation matrix. 26 Table 6: Summary of Regression model results. 27 Table 7: Actual results of variables upon bank profitability. 31 List of Figures Figure 1: Research model.
21 Figure 2: Research method framework. 22 4 Executive Summary The research aims to analyze and evaluate the determinants of Vietnamese commercial banks’ ability to generate profit using Regression Analysis for Panel Data set of 25 commercial banks from 2017-2021. Aside that, Random Effects Model (REM) and Fixed Effects Model (FEM) along with Hausman test are performed to ensure the validity, thereby, selecting the suitable for the research. Based on previous research papers, the internal factors affecting the profitability of banks are: bank size (total assets), capital adequacy ratio, non-performing loans, and operating cost.
Meanwhile, the external factors are GDP growth and inflation. Following the release of the data, discussion and recommendations will be made to assist banks in improving their operational efficiency. 5 Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to share my sincere gratitude for my supervisor – Assoc. Do Thi Kim Hao.
Hao has given me valuable guidance, recommendations and patience that I need throughout my time conducting this research. Whenever I find myself struggling with the work, I can always ask her for useful suggestions and instructions. Therefore, I am very thankful to learnt valuable research skills from her. Next, I would like to thank the lecturers of Banking Academy MSc Finance intake 5 for teaching me and my classmates meaningful and applicable lessons throughout the entire course.
Above all, my postgraduate study would have not been completed without the wonderful field trip to England, United Kingdom – leaded and assisted us by Mrs. Thao Dang and Mr. Last but not least, to all my friends and family who have always been there to support me in pursuing my education enrichment, thank you for all your unconditional love and encouragement in trusting me to become the better version of myself. Truong Yen Phi 6 Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Rationale In any period of time, the banking industry plays a vital and prominent role, being the lifeblood of the whole economy.
Therefore, it links capital sources and provide a variety of financial services to citizens, investors, enterprises, and other institutions. In other words, the performance of banks greatly affects the entire financial system of a country. Hence, the banking industry plays crucial functions in the context of emerging nations. Additionally, when investment projects in various sectors flourish and are backed by commercial banks, more jobs become available for domestic workers, which lowers unemployment rates.
The central bank of any developing nation may strengthen the weak economy when the business cycle is in contraction or another unfavourable phase by prescribing an appropriate monetary policy for commercial banks to follow. As a consequence, inflation, deflation, and other associated dangers would be under control. In a nutshell, the soundness and health of the banking sector, particularly commercial banks, play a major role in the development of a growing economy. Commercial banks have a variety of functions, in which, the goal of gaining profit is the main requirement for their existence and development.
Particularly, facing the current situation of globalization, deregulation and intensive competition from an increase in the share of non-bank institutions, commercial banks must remain profitable otherwise, their viability may be jeopardized. To be more precise, financially stable financial institutions may diversify their operations to reduce their exposure to unsystematic risks. After the 2007-2008 Financial Crisis, it was shown that profitable banks not only weathered the storm but also shielded the economy as a 7 whole (Ramlall, 2009). Therefore, in order for banks to meet their yearly profit goals, it is necessary for management to have a deep understanding of the elements influencing commercial bank profitability.
Not only have bank executives been concerned about profitability, but so have hundreds of academics, financial market experts, and government authorities. In recent years, the Vietnamese banking system has witnessed tremendous expansion. As of November 2021, the list of banks in Vietnam records 49 banks in total, in which, there are 31 joint-stock commercial banks, 04 state-owned commercial banks, 09 banks with 100 % foreign capital, 02 policy banks and many international bank branches. Total assets of the entire banking industry in recent years have changed markedly.
In 2016, the total assets of the banking industry reached about VND 5,600,000 billion. By the end of September 2021, this number has doubled, reaching VND 10,200,000 billion. Thus, on average, the total industry assets increased by about 12% per year from 2016-2020 (State Bank of Vietnam, 2021).2 Research Objectives As researchers found, the degree to which commercial banks are able to perform well can highly be affected by a number of factors existing in the national economic environment and also the creditworthiness of itself. Hence, with the world changing every day at a rapid speed, commercial banks ought to find its way to cope with the situation.
Therefore, this study aims to analyze and evaluate the influence of internal and external factors on the profitability of 25 commercial banks in Vietnam within 2017 and 2021. From there, proper discussion and recommendations will be given to improve operational efficiency of the banks.3 Research Questions What factors significantly impact the profitability of commercial banks of Vietnam? What are the recommendations needed in order to improve the performance of the commercial banks? 1.4 Scope of Research The research investigates the significant and non-significant influence of internal (bank size, capital adequacy, non-performing loans, and operating costs) and external factors (GDP growth and inflation rate) affecting the ability to create profit of 25 Vietnamese commercial banks from 2017 to 2021.1 Data collection For the internal factors, this study used data of 25 listed commercial banks of Vietnam in a 5-year-period from 2017 to 2021, which are obtained from the commercial banks’ yearly annual financial statements. Furthermore, these data are also available on Vietstock Finance as well as the banks’ websites. As regards to the external ones, the data was collected via World Bank database.2 Research method Qualitative method: Statistical methods are applied to illustrate the impact and extend to which the determinants may affect upon Vietnamese commercial banks’ profitability.
From there, the author has an overview of the impact to discuss and give recommendations. 9 Quantitative method: Regression model for panel data is conducted to inspect the effects of the determinants on the commercial banks’ profitability. Aside that, the research also tests Random Effects Model (REM), Fixed Effects Model (FEM), and Hausman test to investigate the significance between the dependent and independent variances, thus, determine which one is the suitable model for the research.6 Dissertation Structure Chapter 1: Introduction – Introducing a brief background of the dissertation, research objectives and research questions, the scope of research and research methodology. Chapter 2: Literature Review – Overviewing the concept, measurements, as well as the determinants of bank profitability.
From there, summarizing the results of previous research papers about the factors that affect the profitability of banks. Chapter 3: Data and Methodology – Mentioning the sources of data collection and the research method of the dissertation. Chapter 4: Empirical Results – Presenting the estimation results, performing tests to achieve the most accurate results and interpreting it. Chapter 5: Conclusion – Concluding the dissertation and confirming the research objectives.
10 Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.1 Bank profitability An essential metric for assessing a bank's success is bank profitability. Profit for a bank is the difference between what it gets and what it spends. Typically, service charges and interest collected on the bank's assets are where it makes the majority of its revenues. On the other hand, a bank's primary costs are its operational expenditures and the interest it pays on its obligations.
It is not enough to just examine bank profits per share to assess bank profitability. It is also critical to understand how effectively and efficiently a bank uses its assets and equity to generate profits. Based on previous studies, a bank’ profitability can be measured in absolute or relative numbers through financial ratio. According to Burhonov (2006), returns on assets (ROA), returns on equity (ROE), returns on deposits (ROD), net interest margin (NIM), and profit margin (BTP/TA) are greatly applied to calculate the profitability of a commercial bank.
In which, ROA and ROE are by far the two most effective and applicable ratios. The return on assets (ROA) measures a bank's capacity to make money from its assets, whereas, the return on common equity (ROE) reflects the profitability per dollar of capital of common stockholders (Iqbal & Molyneux, 2005).2 The internal factors As stated in Bourke (1989)’s empirical studies, the determinants of bank profitability that are internal variables closely related to bank management. These internal variables (bank size, capital strength, total assets, deposits, credit risk, operating cost, asset quality, liquidity, etc.) not 11 only used to maintain the financial stability, but also functioned for the benefits of the stakeholders of banks such as investors and depositors (Sarwar, et al, 2018). Therefore, it is easier to manage these factors than the external ones.1 Bank size (BSIZE) It was believed that the bank's size contributed favourably to its profitability and operational efficiency.
For that, researchers anticipated that a bigger bank would have economies of scale (resulting in lower expenses) and economies of scope (leading to greater product variety and improved customer access). Concerning the influence on efficiency, the findings were contradictory: both big (Altunbas, et al., 2001; Terraza, 2015) and small banks had reduced expenses (Kosmidou, et al. Regarding profitability, the impacts of bank size were also contradictory: whereas Ali et al. (2011) revealed a favorable relationship between bank size and profitability, Obamuyi (2013) demonstrated negative consequences.
Other investigations discovered a limited relationship between bank size and profitability (Boyd & Runkle, 1993).2 Capital adequacy ratio (CAR) A bank's capacity to pay its creditors, as well as its response to credit risks and operational risks, are evaluated as part of the Capital Adequacy Ratio, which serves as a benchmark for the banking industry. A financial institution that has a healthy CAR has sufficient capital to withstand any losses that may occur. As a result, the possibility of it going bankrupt and the money being lost by depositors is reduced. Following the global economic crisis that began in 2008, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) started imposing more stringent CAR rules in order to better safeguard depositors.
(Bank for International Settlements, 2021) 12 The first conclusive evidence of a positive relationship between capital adequacy ratio (CAR) and profitability was found by Goddard et al. (2004), who used a dynamic panel model to analyse the causes of profitability in 665 banks across six major European nations from 1992 to 1998.