Banks hike short-term deposit rates
Banks hike short-term deposit rates
A number of banks have unexpectedly hiked deposit rates for the six-month tenor to over 8% per year, instead of applying the rate to the 12-month term as they did before, according to a news report on Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper website.
Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) has just announced its new online deposit policy, allowing customers to enjoy higher rates with larger deposits.
For the six-month term, customers of SCB depositing less than VND1.5 billion each at the bank can enjoy a rate of 8.03% and those depositing over VND10 billion will enjoy a rate of 8.21% per year.
Currently, the highest rate at SCB is 8.76% per year, applicable to customers depositing VND10 billion or more for 13-36 months.
Earlier, Nam A Bank had also raised its six-month deposit rate to 8% per year. For terms of seven to nine months, clients receive a rate of 8.05% per year, while the highest rate of 8.7% is applicable to the 36-month term.
Meanwhile, Viet Capital Bank is offering a six-month online deposit rate of 7.6%; Eximbank, 7.5% per year; and Vietbank, 7.7% per year. Other lenders such as ACB, Sacombank and HDBank have set their rates at around 7% per year.
In general, deposit rates have soared to more than 10% per year as Viet Capital Bank has launched a certificate-of-deposit product, with a rate of 10.2% for the 60-month tenor.
For short-term depositors, the 8% rate has become most attractive, as the largest banks in Vietnam are still applying long-term rates of some 7% per year. Vietcombank, VietinBank and BIDV are still offering a 5.5% rate for the six-month term, while the rate for tenors from 12 to 36 months is 6.8% per year.
As the rate hike competition heats up, the gap between the six-month rates offered by local banks is widening, reaching up to 2.5 percentage points.
At present, the State Bank of Vietnam only limits deposit rates for tenors of less than six months to 5.5% per year, while banks are allowed to negotiate rates with customers for tenors of six months or longer.
Since September 16, the central bank has cut several policy rates by 25 basis points to help support economic growth.
