Banks offer higher rates for online savings to draw clients amid COVID-19 battle
Banks offer higher rates for online savings to draw clients amid COVID-19 battle
To encourage customers to deposit money online amid the COVID-19 pandemic, many banks have raised interest rates for online savings by up to 1.4 per cent higher than over-the-counter deposits. 
Short-term interest rates (below six months) are prevalent at 4.3-4.75 per cent per year at most banks and do not differ much from over-the-counter deposits due to the rate cap set by the State Bank of Viet Nam.
However, a few banks have listed lower rates for traditional deposits and offer higher online rates such as Techcombank (up 0.45 percentage points), SeABank (up 0.4 percentage points), ACB (up 0.25 percentage points) and BIDV (up 0.2 percentage points).
The disparity is clearer for terms from six months and above.
Among the Big Four, Vietinbank is offering customers up to 0.3 percentage points per year higher for online savings compared to over-the-counter deposits (depending on term of deposit).
BIDV made a similar move with an increase of 0.2 percentage points for online savings.
Vietcombank and Agribank have yet to announce any changes in their interest rate policies.
Among commercial joint stock banks, Saigon Bank (SCB) and Nam A Bank have launched the highest online saving interest rates for six-month and 12-month terms, between 8.03 per cent and 8.66 per cent per year – 0.9-1.2 percentage points higher than traditional deposits.
Some banks have listed interest rates above 7 per cent per year for six-month terms including OCB, Viet A Bank, Vietbank, PVcomBank, Viet Capital Bank and Eximbank.
Many are offering interest rates from 6.2 to 7 per cent per year such as SeAbank (6.2 per cent), ACB and Maritime Bank (6.7 per cent), VIB and TPBank (6.8 per cent) and Eximbank (7 per cent).
For 6-month terms, Eximbank has the biggest difference between online savings and over-the-counter savings of 1.4 percentage points per year.
Disparity at other banks such as Techcombank, Viet Capital Bank, Sai Gon-Ha Noi Bank, TPBank, SeABank and Maritime Bank is between 0.4 and 1.1 percentage points for terms of six months and 12 months.
For 12-month terms, only a few banks have listed interest rates below 7 per cent per year such as Techcombank (6.5 per cent) and Vietcombank (6.6 per cent), while most banks have kept interest rates between 7 per cent to 7.8 per cent.
Interest rates for 18-month terms are similar or slightly higher than 12-month terms. Meanwhile, the majority of banks have maintained or slashed interest rates for longer terms (24 months and 36 months).
