To promptly support customers affected by storm No. 3, on the afternoon of September 20, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) held a meeting with commercial banks to hear reports on plans to support people and businesses to restore production and business.

Proactively reduce interest rates

Agribank representative, General Director Pham Toan Vuong said that this bank has about 30,000 billion VND of outstanding debt affected. In Quang Ninh alone, about 20,000 individual customers are affected with a total outstanding debt of 20,000 billion VND.

Based on the level of damage to customers, Agribank will reduce interest rates by 0.5-2%/year and waive 100% of overdue interest and late payment interest from September 6 to December 31, 2024, with an estimated affected debt balance of about VND 40,000 billion; reduce 0.5%/year of lending interest rates for loans arising from September 6 to December 31, 2024, estimated at about VND 30,000 billion;...

Mr. Pham Toan Vuong suggested that debt restructuring must be fundamental and long-term. Learning from the experience of debt restructuring for customers affected by Covid-19, there are customers who cannot recover within 2 years.

"Agribank still has more than 5% of its credit target, so there is no shortage of credit to lend," said an Agribank leader.

A representative of Vietcombank informed that since September 9, Vietcombank has proactively reduced the loan interest rate by 0.5%/year for those affected by the storm. This was done by the bank itself, without the need for customers to request it. According to calculations, Vietcombank will reduce interest rates for a total outstanding loan balance of about 160,000 billion VND, with more than 25,500 customers.

At VietinBank, more than 400 corporate customers were affected, with outstanding loans of about VND40,000 billion; in addition, outstanding loans of individual customers were about VND20,000 billion.

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SBV leaders in Quang Ninh to assess the damage to people and businesses caused by storm No. 3. Photo: SBV.

More than 1,000 individual customers of BIDV also suffered losses, with outstanding debts of over VND40,000 billion. BIDV has implemented an interest rate support program of 0.5-2%/year, applicable to both existing and new customers.

According to a representative of the Military Bank (MB), the bank has reduced interest rates by 1-2% for affected customers borrowing medium and long term loans, and reduced interest rates by 0.5%/year for short-term customers; implemented from now until the end of 2024.

For new loan interest rates, MB will initially set aside 7,000 billion VND to reduce interest rates by 1% per year for new borrowers.

MB representative hopes that credit institutions will coordinate to provide consistent and synchronous support, avoiding cases where customers jump debt groups at banks that are slow to implement.

According to a representative of Techcombank, this bank has reduced interest rates by 1%/year for corporate customers, for a period of 3-6 months with a credit package of 5,000 billion VND. At the same time, Techcombank also has an additional credit package of 5,000 billion VND with preferential interest rates to lend to individual customers in areas affected by storms and floods from now until the end of 2024.

Meanwhile, a representative of Sacombank said the bank has a debt balance of 750 billion VND affected by storm No. 3. Sacombank has reduced interest rates by 2%/year for customers affected by the storm and waived early repayment fees for customers affected by storm No. 3.

In addition, Sacombank continues to reduce interest rates for new loans by 2% per year, with an expected total outstanding debt of more than VND 27,000 billion from these support packages.

TPBank also set aside VND2,000 billion to support affected individual customers with an interest rate reduction of up to 50% compared to current interest rates, and VND2,000 billion for corporate customers with a maximum loan interest rate reduction of 2%/year.

LPBank General Director, Mr. Ho Nam Tien shared that about 29,000 billion VND was affected with more than 63,200 customers. Existing LPBank customers will have their interest rates reduced by 2%/year, the amount of interest exemption and reduction can be up to 85 billion VND.

LPBank has just launched a preferential loan package worth VND8,000 billion for new customers, and at the same time supports existing customers by reducing loan interest rates by up to 2%/year to help customers rebuild and restore production and business after storms and floods.

HDBank has nearly 2,000 billion in outstanding loans with nearly 1,000 individual customers affected. The bank supports 1% interest rate for affected customers.

Meanwhile, PGBank has introduced measures such as debt restructuring and interest rate reduction for heavily affected customers with a VND2,000 billion credit package. In addition, the bank offers a preferential loan package with an interest rate of 6%/year, helping customers reduce financial pressure and quickly restore production and business.

MSB Bank said it would reduce VND loan interest rates by 1% per year and USD loan interest rates by 0.5% per year for corporate customers affected by the storm.

Focus on extending and postponing debt repayment deadlines

Data recently updated by the State Bank of Vietnam shows that the entire banking industry has 116,000 billion VND affected by storm No. 3 (Yagi), with 83,418 customers suffering losses.

In terms of the ratio of damage to total outstanding debt, the affected outstanding debt in Yen Bai accounts for more than 18.55% of the total outstanding debt in the whole province; Hai Phong city 10.65% of the total outstanding debt; Quang Ninh province nearly 7% of the total outstanding debt in the whole province; Hai Duong province has 8.64% of the total outstanding debt. In Hanoi city, the affected outstanding debt is 31,870 billion VND, accounting for nearly 1% of the total outstanding debt.

For commercial banks, preliminary statistics from the big 4 group (BIDV, VCB, Agribank and Vietinbank) show that about 13,494 customers have been affected with an estimated outstanding debt of VND 191,457 billion. The number of customers and outstanding debt is expected to increase as credit institutions and branches of the State Bank of Vietnam continue to compile and update data.

In the spirit of harmonious benefits and shared risks, Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu suggested that credit institutions continue to accompany, share, and support customers in many aspects, not only with financial resources and capital, but also with consulting support, encouragement, and not turning their backs on customers in this difficult time.

Organize and deploy solutions synchronously in a transparent and public manner, absolutely do not take advantage of policies, and apply them to the right subjects.

The Deputy Governor requested that credit institutions review objectively and transparently according to the level of impact and classify the affected subjects to develop appropriate support programs.

He noted that banks should focus on policies to extend and postpone debt repayment periods; policies to reduce interest rates for old loans affected by storms and floods as well as new loans; and continue to coordinate with ministries, branches, localities and the State Bank of Vietnam to join hands to overcome the consequences caused by storm No.