Nearly 20 commercial banks lower deposit rates

At a branch of Vietcombank in Vinh Phuc province. Numerous banks have lowered deposit rates in March. (Photo: VNA)

Nearly 20 commercial banks in Vietnam have adjusted deposit rates since the beginning of this month, with most lowering rates.

One of the Big4, the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), earlier this week reduced online deposit rates by 0.2 percentage points for terms of 1-11 months and 24-36 months, and by 0.1 percentage points for 12-18 month term.

The Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) cut deposit rates by 0.1 percentage points and only maintained a 3% per year rate for 6-9 month terms from March 15.

Agribank has the lowest 1-5 month term rate among the Big4, at 1.6% per year.

Among the Big4, deposit rates at Vietinbank are slightly higher, at 1.6-5% per year.

Earlier this week, Saigonbank suddenly increased rates for long-term deposits, while reducing short-term rates. Accordingly, rates for 1-12 month deposits were cut by 0.1-0.2 percentage points while 18-36 month term rates increased by 0.2-0.4 percentage points to around 5.4-5.8% per year.

From the beginning of March, 17 commercial banks have adjusted their deposit rates so far, four of which cut rates more than twice, including BaoViet Bank, GPBank, BVBank and PGBank. Rates for online deposits are currently around 1.6-6.2% per year.

Sacombank offers the highest rate for 36-month term at 6.2%.

The highest rate for 1–2-month term belongs to CBBank at 3.6%, followed by MSB and NCB at 3.5%, Dong A Bank at 3.3%, and VietBank, Viet A Bank and OceanBank at 3.1%.

For 6-month term, ABBank offers the highest rate at 4.7%.

Only eight banks offer rates higher than 5% for 12-month deposits.

According to statistics of the State Bank of Vietnam, deposits at banks were estimated to total 13.5 quadrillion VND (302 billion USD) as of the end of 2023, the highest figure ever recorded.

A report by broker VNDirect forecast that the central bank might cut operating rates by another 0.5 percentage points in the second quarter of 2024, bringing the refinancing rate to 4% and discount rate to 2.5%.

Accordingly, the average 12-month deposit rate is expected to remain low at around 4.5-5% per year in 2024.

The Government also asked for efforts to lower lending rates to support socio-economic recovery./.