Banks swimming in profit despite sluggish first quarterOver the first quarter of 2018, scores of Vietnam-based commercial banks reported million dollar profits despite an overall sluggish market. Despite the first quarter usually being the "slow season," banks reported high profit figuresLuu Trung Thai, general director of Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank, asserted that, “In the first quarter of 2018, the bank’s pre-tax profit hit VND1.6 trillion ($70.08 million), which was a 44 per cent growth compared to the same period in 2017. Previously, the commercial bank posted the target of VND1.8 trillion ($78.84 million) in total pre-tax profit by the end of 2018. Likewise, over the same period, OCB’s total profit mounted up to VND600 billion ($26.28 million), a 240 per cent growth on-year and 30 per cent of the 2018 profit target. Another commercial bank reporting million-dollar profit was VIB, with VND500 billion ($21.9 million) in pre-tax profit.