...State Support Drives Ratings: The Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank) is driven by our expectation that state support will be forthcoming, if needed, given its high systemic importance as one of the four large state-owned banks and the state's controlling stake. Its IDR is one notch lower than Vietnam's (BB-/Positive), reflecting the large size of the banking system relative to GDP and the state's still-weak, albeit improving, finances, which may constrain the timeliness of support. Improving Problem-Loan Metrics: Vietinbank's Viability Rating (VR) was upgraded on the back of the enhanced operating environment, which along with strong retail loan growth reduced its problem loan ratio...
