The total assets of the banking industry reached VND6,174 trillion (US$291.22 billion) by the end of October, according to statistics provided by the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV).

Banking assets rose by 6.3 per cent over the end of last year, reported the central bank.

Only commercial banks and co-operative credit institutions witnessed an increase in assets, while joint ventures and foreign banks posted declines. Finance companies and financial leasing companies revealed a decrease in assets as well.

The central bank reported that the total assets of joint-stock commercial banks had reached VND2,624 trillion ($123.7 billion) at the end of October, rising by 1 per cent over the end of September and 6.5 per cent over December 2013.

The assets of State-owned banks were valued at VND2,712 trillion ($127.9 billion), which are up 8.27 per cent over last year's December.

The total assets of co-operative credit institutions reached nearly VND84.8 trillion, rising by 1.18 per cent and 17.51 per cent over the end of last month and last year, respectively.

With VND691.1 trillion in assets, joint ventures and foreign banks posted a decline of 1.96 per cent in assets over December 2013, while those of finance companies and financial leasing companies dropped by 4.45 per cent to VND62.53 trillion.

The central bank also reported that the returns on assets ratio of the banking system was at 0.51 per cent while returns on equity was 5.49 per cent, which were much lower than 0.79 per cent and 10.34 per cent in 2012, respectively.

The capital adequacy ratio of the system was 13.22 per cent, which was higher than the minimum ratio of 9 per cent.

VNS/VNN