Which bank's ROA is the highest?

\>> Article in the Topic "Vietnamese banking panorama: From financial statements to economic pulse"

ROA What does absolute profit not say?

In the banking industry, profit scale is often the first indicator that attracts attention. A bank earning trillions of dong every quarter easily creates a feeling of superiority compared to the rest of the market. However, large profits do not necessarily mean high efficiency.

What matters more is how effectively the bank is using its vast assets to generate profits. This is the role of ROA, or return on total assets.

ROA The bank shows how much profit each 100 dong of assets generates. For an industry with a very large balance sheet like banking, this indicator helps to see more clearly the actual operating capacity, instead of just looking at the absolute scale of profits.

Data for the first quarter of 2026 of 27 banks shows very clear differentiation. There are banks that are not the largest in the system but generate better profits per asset than banks with larger total assets.

ROA trend of some typical banks compared to industry average

Techcombank leads in asset utilization efficiency 2.34%.

This is a level that far exceeds the common level and shows the ability to convert assets into profits very effectively. Techcombank is not the bank with the largest total assets in the system, nor is it the bank with the highest absolute profit, but it ranks first in terms of return on assets.

This result reflects many advantages accumulated by the bank over the years. Techcombank maintains a high CASA ratio, is able to control capital costs well, and focuses on customer segments with high quality and profitability. In addition, non-interest income from services, cards and high-end customer ecosystem also helps improve overall profitability.

In other words, Techcombank is showing a banking model that is not only large in scale but also strong in efficiency.

As of the first quarter of 2026, Techcombank is the bank with the highest ROA among the group of 27 banks surveyed, reaching about 2.34%. Photo: TCB Annual Report 2025

Private banking group dominates the high ROA group ABBank, MBBank and VPBank. The ROA of this group all exceeds the threshold of 1.8%, significantly higher than the average level of the system.

HDBank reached about 1.99%, reflecting the ability to effectively exploit the retail ecosystem and high-yield customer segments. ABBank reached about 1.92%, a notable highlight as this bank is not in the largest scale group but has a very high return on assets.

MBBank reached about 1.91%, continuing to show advantages from its large individual customer base, digital banking and high CASA ratio. Meanwhile, VPBank achieved about 1.85%, thanks to its ability to create high profit margins from consumer credit, retail and individual customer segments.

The common point of this banking group is the ability to combine asset growth, good net interest margin and clear customer strategy. They not only expand their scale but also know how to make assets more profitable.

Vietcombank is still the efficiency benchmark of the state-owned sector.

With a ROA of about 1.48% in the first quarter of 2026, Vietcombank is not in the leading group of the entire system, but still outperforms the remaining state-owned banks. This is a very notable point because Vietcombank owns a very large scale of assets, while maintaining high profitability on a large asset base is often much more difficult than for smaller banks.

Vietcombank's advantages come from asset quality, low capital costs and good risk control ability. This bank does not need to pursue segments with too high yields to improve ROA, but maintains efficiency thanks to cheap capital, quality customer files and strong backup buffers.

Compared with VietinBank and BIDV, Vietcombank shows the ability to use assets significantly more effectively. This explains why the bank is often considered the benchmark for performance in the state-owned banking sector.

Banks that are in the effective subprime zone

On the other hand, some banks have ROA significantly lower than the industry average.

BIDV reached about 0.81%, much lower than Vietcombank even though it belongs to the same group of large-scale state-owned banks. This shows that very large asset scale does not automatically translate into high profitability if profit margins are narrowed or risk costs remain large.

Sacombank reached about 0.74%. This case is especially noteworthy because the bank still has the ability to generate quite good pre-provision profits, but net profit is shrinking due to having to deal with outstanding assets from the restructuring process.

Some other banks such as Eximbank or VietBank are also in the group with low ROA, reflecting pressure on operating efficiency, capital costs or financial quality. product.

This group shows an important reality: great assets are not enough. The decisive thing is whether the bank can turn that asset into final profit or not.

ROA of 27 banks (Q1/2026)

Bank

ROA (%)

Bank

ROA (%)

Bank

ROA (%)

TCB

2.34%

VCB

1.48%

PGB

1.02%

HDB

1.99%

MSB

1.47%

SGB

0.83%

ABB

1.92%

NAB

1.28%

BID

0.81%

MBB

1.91%

TPB

1.28%

BAB

0.78%

VPB

1.85%

CTG

1.23%

STB

0.74%

ACB

1.68%

VAB

1.15%

BVB

0.50%

SHB

1.60%

OCB

1.13%

NVB

0.50%

VIB

1.59%

SSB

1,10%

EIB

0.40%

LPB

1.,57%

KLB

1.53%

VBB

0.28%

ROA reflects the difference in banking business models goods.

Banks with high ROA often possess at least one of three advantages: cheap capital, good net interest margin or effective risk control ability. Techcombank and MBBank stand out thanks to their high CASA. HDBank and VPBank have advantages from lending segments that bring larger profit margins. Vietcombank represents a safe model, high asset quality and low capital costs.

In contrast, banks with low ROA are often stuck at one or more bottlenecks: high mobilisation costs, thin profit margins, large bad debts or pressure on provisioning.

Therefore, ROA is not just a single financial indicator. This is where the results of many strategic decisions converge, from capital mobilisation, customer selection, loan pricing, risk management to operating cost control.

The competition is shifting from scale to efficiency

The picture of ROA in the first quarter of 2026 shows that Vietnam's banking industry is clearly differentiated in terms of asset utilization efficiency.

Some private banks such as Techcombank, HDBank, MBBank and VPBank are demonstrating their ability to generate high profits per asset. Meanwhile, Vietcombank continues to play a standard role in efficiency in the state-owned banking sector.

On the contrary, banks with low ROA show that large asset scale or high pre-provision profits are not enough to ensure ultimate efficiency.

This shows that competition in the banking industry is no longer just about who has greater total assets or who has faster credit growth. The increasingly important question is which bank uses its assets more efficiently.

And considering the ROA indicator, Techcombank is the most prominent name in the Vietnamese banking system today.

\>> Article in the Topic "Vietnam Bank Panorama: From financial statements to economic pulse"

---

Source: TheLeader — theleader.vn. The article is reposted for the purpose of sharing knowledge for the founder and investor community in the ecosystem HCM VIF.