Many banks 'forgot' to update savings interest rate reduction according to the direction of the State Bank

According to Decision No. 951 dated May 23 of the State Bank of Vietnam on the maximum interest rate for VND deposits at credit institutions (CIs) as prescribed in Circular 07/2014/TT-NHNN dated March 17, 2014, the maximum interest rate applied to deposits with terms from 1 month to less than 6 months is reduced from 5.5%/year to 5.0%/year.

Interest rates on deposits with terms of 6 months or more are determined by credit institutions based on market supply and demand. Decision No. 951 takes effect from May 25.

This morning, a series of banks reduced deposit interest rates for terms from 1 month to less than 6 months to 5%.

PVCombank also lowered interest rates to 4.5%, 0.5% lower than the ceiling for terms of 1-5 months.

Similarly, online deposit interest rates for 1 and 3-month terms at OCB are only 4.8% and 4.95%/year, respectively.

LPBank only applies maximum interest rates for 3-5 month terms, while 1-3 month terms are only 4.8%/year.

Techcombank applies 4.7%/year for all deposits with terms of 1-5 months, including deposits of 3 billion VND or more.

VietCapital Bank applies an interest rate of 5% for 5-month term deposits, terms from 1-4 months range from 4.5-4.9%/year.

Interest rates for 1-5 month terms at DongA Bank are only 4.5%/year.

Construction Bank (CB) even applies an interest rate of 3.9%/year for a term of 1-2 months, and 3.95% for a term of 3-5 months.

Notably, CB, DongA Bank and VietCapital Bank have previously applied interest rates below 5% for these terms.

For the Big4 banking group, Vietcombank reduced the interest rate for 1-5 month terms to 5%/year.

VietinBank reduced to 4.5%/year for 1-2 month terms (down 0.5% compared to the old rate), and 4.9% for 3-5 month terms (down 0.5%).

At Agribank, interest rates for 1-2 month terms decreased by 0.7% to 4.7%/year, and for 3-5 month terms decreased by 0.5% to 4.9%/year.

Meanwhile, BIDV applies a new interest rate of 4.6%/year for 1-2 month term (down 0.4%), 0.5% for 3-5 month term to 5%/year.

However, according to a survey by VietNamNet at 8:30 a.m. on May 25, many banks still publicly announced on their websites interest rates exceeding 5% for terms of 1-6 months, and have not updated new interest rates.

Examples include: ABBank, MB, VietA Bank, VietBank, Sacombank, SCB,…

When reporters conducted a field survey, some banks such as ABbank and VietBank said that their employees applied interest rates below 5% for terms from 1 to less than 6 months but forgot to update them on the officially announced interest rate table.

INTEREST RATE FOR 1-5 MONTH TERM ON MAY 25 (%/year)
BANK	1 MONTH	2 MONTHS	3 MONTHS	4 MONTHS	5 MONTHS
CBBANK	3.8	3.9	3.95	3.95	3.95
ACB	3.9	4	4.1	4.3	4.3
PVCOMBANK	4.5	4.5	4.5	4.5	4.5
DONGA BANK	4.5	4.5	4.5	4.5	4.5
VIETINBANK	4.5	4.5	4.9	4.9	4.9
VIETCAPITAL BANK	4.5	4.7	4.8	4.9	5
BIDV	4.6	4.6	5	5	5
TECHCOMBANK	4.7	4.7	4.7	4.7	4.7
AGRIBANK	4.7	4.7	4.9	4.9	4.9
SEABANK	4.7	4.7	4.7	4.7	4.7
LPBANK	4.8	4.8	4.8	5	5
OCB	4.8		4.95
TPBANK	4.8	5
GPBANK	5	5	5	5	5
BAOVIETBANK	5	5	5	5	5
BACA BANK	5	5	5	5	5
NCB	5	5	5	5	5
NAMA BANK	5	5	5	5	5
HDBANK	5	5	5	5	5
SHB	5	5	5	5	5
KIENLONGBANK	5	5	5	5	5
SAIGONBANK	5	5	5	5	5
OCEANBANK	5	5	5	5	5
VPBANK	5	5	5	5	5
EXIMBANK	5	5	5	5	5
MSB	5	5	5	5	5
VIETCOMBANK	5	5	5	5	5
VIB	5	5	5	5	5
MB	5.3	5.3	5.3	5.3	5.3
SCB	5.3	5.31	5.32	5.33	5.34
SACOMBANK	5.3	5.4	5.5	5.5	5.5
ABBANK	5.5	5.5	5.5	5.5	5.5
VIETA BANK	5.5	5.5	5.5	5.5	5.5
VIETBANK	5.5	5.5	5.5	5.5	5.5

Following the downward trend in deposit interest rates since the beginning of May, in addition to the mandatory reduction in deposit interest rates for terms under 6 months according to new regulations, some banks have also voluntarily reduced deposit interest rates for terms of 6 months or more this morning.

For example, Bao Viet Bank announced the Ez saving interest rate schedule for individual customers making online savings deposits with a sharp reduction of up to 0.6%.

Specifically, the 6-month term interest rate decreased from 8.3%/year to 7.7%/year, the 8-10 month term decreased from 8.4%/year to 7.8%/year, and the 12-month term had a smaller decrease, from 8.4% to 8.1%/year.

Meanwhile, the 13-month term deposit interest rate, which BaoViet Bank maintained at its highest level of 8.6% per year, has now dropped to 8.3% per year. The 15-month term deposit interest rate has dropped from 8.5% to 7.9% per year, and the 18-month term deposit interest rate has dropped by 0.7% to 7.8% per year.

Notably, this is the first time BaoViet Bank has reduced deposit interest rates since the beginning of May.

Bac A Commercial Joint Stock Bank (BacA Bank) also reduced 0.4% - 0.5% interest rates on medium and long-term deposits.

Accordingly, the interest rate for 6-8 month deposits at BacA Bank decreased by 0.4% to 7.7%/year, the interest rate for 9-11 month deposits also decreased to 7.8%/year, while the interest rate for 12 month deposits also decreased by 0.4% to 7.9%/year.

BacA Bank has reduced interest rates for long terms by 0.5%/year, to 8%/year for terms of 13-15 months, and 8.1%/year for terms of 18-36 months.

OCB Bank also continues to reduce interest rates for some terms from today. The 6-month term is slightly reduced by 0.1% to 8%/year, while the 15-month term is reduced by 0.2% to 8.1%/year.

MSB Bank also reduced interest rates by 0.2% for all terms over 5 months from today. Currently, online deposit interest rates at MSB are as follows: Term 6 - 11 months 7.3%/year; Term 12 - 36 months 7.4%/year.

Notably, Techcombank has reduced interest rates by 0.3% for all terms and applied to different deposit amounts. For deposit accounts under VND1 billion, the interest rate is 6.8%/year. For deposit accounts from VND1 to under VND3 billion, the interest rate is 6.9%/year. For deposit accounts from VND3 billion or more, the interest rate is 7%/year. These interest rates are generally applied to term deposits of 6 months or more.

INTEREST RATES FOR DEPOSITS WITH TERMS OVER 5 MONTHS AT BANKS ON MAY 25 (%/year)
BANK	6 MONTHS	9 MONTHS	12 MONTHS	15 MONTHS	18 MONTHS
ABBANK	8.5	8.7	8.8	9.2	9.2
GPBANK	8.3	8.4	8.5	8.6	8.6
VIETA BANK	8.3	8.4	8.5	8.5	8.5
NCB	8.2	8.2	8.25	8.15	8.15
PVCOMBANK	7.5	7.9	8.2		8.3
NAMA BANK	8.5	8.1	8.2	8.1	8.1
OCB	8	8.1	8.1	8.1	7.9
BAOVIETBANK	7.7	7.8	8.1	7.9	7.8
HDBANK	8.1	6.9	8.1	7	7.1
VIETBANK	8	8.1	8.1	8	8.1
VIETCAPITAL BANK	7.4	7.7	8	8.2	8.3
BACA BANK	7.7	7.8	7.9	8	8.1
SHB	7.5	7.5	7.9	8	8
SCB	7.8	7.8	7.85	7.65	7.65
LPBANK	7.7	7.7	7.8	8.2	8.2
KIENLONGBANK	7.7	7.9	7.8	7.6	7.6
SAIGONBANK	7.4	7.5	7.8		7.4
OCEANBANK	7.6	7.7	7.8	7.8	8.1
TPBANK	7.6		7.7		7.5
VPBANK	7.7	7.9	7.7	6.9	6.9
EXIMBANK	7.5	7.5	7.6	7.6	7.6
CBBANK	7.2	7.3	7.5	7.55	7.55
MSB	7.3	7.3	7.4	7.4	7.4
SACOMBANK	7	7	7.4	7.5	7.6
BIDV	6.6	6.6	7.3	7.2	7.2
SEABANK	6.8	6.83	7.3	7.2	7.21
ACB	6.5	6.6	7.2	7.3	7.3
VIETINBANK	6.7	6.7	7.2		7.2
AGRIBANK	6.9	6.9	7.2	7	7
VIETCOMBANK	6.5	6.5	7.2
MB	6.5	6.6	7.2	7.3	7.3
TECHCOMBANK	6.9	6.9	6.9	6.9	6.9
DONGA BANK	6.35	6.45	6.7		6.9
VIB	7.7	7.8		7.9	7.9

Thus, BaoVietBank, OCB, BacA Bank, MSB and Tecombank are the latest banks to reduce deposit interest rates for terms after 5 months.

Since the beginning of May, 26 banks have reduced deposit interest rates, including VietA Bank, VIB, OCB, Eximbank, MSB, VPBank, TPBank, Vietcombank, Agribank, VietinBank, BIDV, KienLongBank, NamA Bank, NCB, Saigonbank, PVCombank, HDBank, OceanBank, Sacombank, Techcombank, BacA Bank, DongA Bank, VietBank, MB, SeABank and BaoViet Bank.

Banks that have reduced interest rates twice during this period are NCB, Sacombank, Eximbank, VPBank, KienLong Bank and Saigonbank, TPBank, BacA Bank, OCB, MSB and Techcombank.

VietBank and OCB alone have reduced deposit interest rates three times in less than a month.

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