Almost all banks cut 6-month deposit interest rate to below 8%/year

Illustrative photo (Photo: VNA)

Almost all banks in Vietnam have cut interest rates for deposits for terms from six months and above to below 8% per year.

Out of the total 35 banks, only five banks are keeping their 12-month deposit interest rate at 8-8.2% including VIB (8.2%), BaoVietBank (8.1%), ABBank (8.1%), GPBank (8.02%) and NCB (8%).

Lower interest rates are seen at other banks, including OCB (7.9%); SCB, BVBank and VietABank (7.8%); VietBank, OceanBank, BacABank, PVCombank, LPBank (7.7%).

To six-month deposits, NCB offers the highest interest rate of 7.95% per year, folollwed by GPBank (7.92%), ABBank (7.8%), SCB (7.75%) and VietBank (7.7%).

Meanwhile, BaoVietBank, Oceanbank, BacABank, VPBank are offering the same rate of 7.5% for six-month deposits.

State-owned commercial banks also simultaneously cut deposit interest rates. Highest interest rates at the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank), Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank) and Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (AgriBank) were reduced from 7.2%/year to 6.8%/year, applicable for terms of 12 months or above; while the interest rate for deposits with terms of 6-9 months also decreased from 5.8 - 5.9%/year to 5.5%/year.

The current interest rate of many banks has decreased by more than 1%/year compared to the beginning of May. Some banks have even reduced deposit interest rates three or four times within the past month, such as VietBank, OCB, NCB, VietABank, Kienlongbank, Saigonbank and Sacombank.

In the latest developments, Kienlongbank announced the reduced deposit interest rates from June 1.

With a reduction of 1%/year for a term of 6 - 9 months, the interest rate at the bank is down to 6.7 - 6.9% per year. The 12-month term interest rate also decreased by 0.7% per year to 7.1% per year.

The recent interest rate cut shows banks' consensus in their efforts to reduce deposit interest rates, creating conditions for further cut in lending rates to support businesses and people, especially after the State Bank's decision to cut policy interest rates, which takes effects from May 25.

Evaluating the interest rate outlook, in its updated report on June 1, the SSI Securities Corporation predicts that interest rates can drop by another 50-100 basis points from now until the end of the year and will continue to decrease next year./.