Experts predict that the Vietnamese banking industry will witness a slowdown in pre-tax profit growth in 2023, with both small and large banks experiencing significant disparities. The pre-tax profit for 2023 is expected to increase by only about 10%, a significant decline from the 35% growth rate seen last year, according to Vietnam Foreign Trade Bank’s Securities Joint Stock Company (VCBS). HCM City Securities Joint Stock Company (HSC) similarly predicts an average profit increase of just 12-15% in 2023 for a group of banks under its study. A struggling real estate market and a global macroeconomic downturn could impede credit growth and hamper debt recovery. Nevertheless, VCBS foresees that the bad debt ratio and provisioning level will not dramatically surge in 2023, owing to government decrees supporting corporate bond extensions and loan restructuring.