ACLEDA bank plans further expansion
ACLEDA bank plans further expansion
ACLEDA Bank Lao Ltd expects to spend almost 64 billion kip (US$8 million) on more service units and branches in both Vientiane and the provinces, and plans to employ an 300 additional staff this year.
The bank's Managing Director and CEO Mr Narin Phon said in an interview recently the bank plans to have 12 additional offices, including five branches and seven serv ice units as well as 15 ATMs.
“Installing the IT systems and ATMs alone is expected to cost over 16 billion kip (US$2 million),” Mr Narin said.
At the end of 2012, the bank had 590 employees working at 28 service offices in Vientiane and the provinces, including the headquarters, seven branches and 20 service units, in addition to 30 ATMs.
“So this means the bank will have over 900 employees by the end of this year and all the staff are Lao,” Mr Narin said.
ACLEDA Bank Lao Ltd, the first Cambodia-based commercial bank to operate in Laos, reported that both its loans and deposits have exceeded the bank's initial expectations for 2012.
The bank's plan was to disburse loans worth about 456 billion kip (US$57 million) last year, and for deposits to reach about 368 billion kip (US$46 million).
It had disbursed loans to family businesses and small and medium d enterprises worth about 532 billion kip (US$66.5 million) by the end of last year.
Deposits also exceeded the target, and rose to about 420 billion kip (US$52.5 million).
The report also noted that the bank's total assets grew to about 741 billion kip (US$92.7 million), a 66 percent increase over 2011. Net interest income rose 48 percent to over 49 billion kip (US$6.1 million) whilst after-tax profits increased 80 percent to over 17.3 billion kip (US$2.17 million).
This year the bank expects to have between 680 billion kip and 720 billion kip (US$85 million to US$90 million) in deposits. “As of last month, January 25, we already have 452.8 billion kip (US$56.6 million),” Mr Narin said.
“This year, we expect to issue loans of about 880 billion kip (US$110 million).”
Economic growth in rural areas enabled the bank to fulfil its business plan for 2012, as well as its medium and long term strategies, and management staff are looking forward to the year ahead.
vientiane times
