The effects of loan portfolio diversification on vietnamese banks’ return

Abstract

In this paper, the authors estimate the impact of loan portfolio diversification on bank return by using annual data from 25 commercial banks in Vietnam in the period of 2008–2017. In order to achieve the study objective, the author chooses the HHI measure to evaluate the loan portfolio diversification which is classified by economic sectors. The data used is unbalanced panel data while Pooled OLS, FEM and REM analysis methods are used for regression. The FEM regression is the most appropriate model to show that the diversification of the loan portfolio has the negative effect on bank return. Thus, in the banking market context in Vietnam, specialized banks have a slightly higher return than diversified banks during the research period.