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Deposit interest rates at four banks Agribank, Vietcombank, VietinBank, and BIDV have continuously decreased recently, to an unprecedented low.
The four "big" state-owned commercial banks (also known as the Big4 group) including Agribank, Vietcombank, VietinBank and BIDV have recently continuously reduced interest rates, causing deposit interest rates at these banks to drop to an unprecedented low.
In December alone, all four banks have adjusted their deposit interest rates down. Agribank has even reduced its interest rates twice since the beginning of the month.
Securities analyst Tong Minh Tuan said that commercial banks still have room to continue reducing interest rates.
Mr. Tuan analyzed that although the mobilization interest rate is at a low level, the demand of the economy is still weak. The demand for capital is only tense in debt restructuring activities, especially real estate.
Meanwhile, in the manufacturing sector, investment demand in the domestic and international markets has declined, leading to a decrease in credit demand in most sectors, which has also reduced the demand for bank deposits. That is why interest rates still have room to be lowered further.
In addition, the US Federal Reserve (Fed) has stopped raising interest rates and forecasts that it will gradually loosen monetary policy next year, eliminating the need for exchange rate tensions. This will create ample room for the State Bank of Vietnam to continue to lower its operating interest rates, thereby giving commercial banks room to reduce deposit interest rates.
On December 22, the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) surprised everyone by reducing deposit interest rates for the second time in December to a record low.
According to the online interest rate table recently updated by this bank, the interest rate for 1-2 month term has dropped sharply by 0.5 percentage points to 2.2%/year. Even the 3-5 month term has been adjusted by Agribank to drop shockingly by 0.8 percentage points to 2.5%/year.
With this adjustment, the 1-5 month term deposit interest rate at Agribank is currently equal to the interest rate at Vietcombank, the lowest level in the market today.
For interest rates on deposits with terms from 6 to 9 months, Agribank also sharply reduced by 0.6 percentage points to only 3.6%/year (0.1 percentage points higher than Vietcombank).
Agribank keeps the interest rate for 12-18 month term deposits at 5%/year, and for 24-36 month term deposits at 5.5%/year (equal to BIDV and VietinBank).
Comparing interest rates at the Big4 group, currently Agribank and Vietcombank are the banks applying the lowest interest rates for terms of 1-5 months, with interest rates from 2.2-2.5%/year.
Meanwhile, interest rates for these terms at BIDV and VietinBank are also equal, from 2.6-3%/year.
For term deposits from 6-11 months, BIDV and VietinBank are slightly higher with interest rates of 4%/year, while at Agribank it is 3.6%/year, at Vietcombank it is 3.5%/year - the lowest rate in the market today.
Vietcombank is also paying the lowest interest rate in the market for 12-18 month term deposits at only 4.8%/year, while the interest rate for these terms at the other 3 banks is 5%/year.
For term deposit interest rates from 24 to 36 months, BIDV and VietinBank apply an interest rate of 5.3%/year, while at Agribank it is 5.5%/year and at Vietcombank it is only 4.8%/year.
| BANK | 1 MONTH | 3 MONTHS | 6 MONTHS | 9 MONTHS | 12 MONTHS | 18 MONTHS |
| VIETCOMBANK | 2.2 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 4.8 | 4.8 |
| AGRIBANK | 2.2 | 2.5 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 5 | 5 |
| BIDV | 2.6 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| VIETINBANK | 2.6 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
The surprising thing is that SCB Bank has stepped in among the Big4 group to become one of the banks paying the lowest deposit interest rates in the market.
In fact, in terms of current mobilization interest rates, the interest rate table at SCB is only slightly higher than the interest rate table at Vietcombank, lower than the interest rates at all other banks.
Currently, the online deposit interest rate table at SCB is as follows: Term 1-2 months: 2.25%/year; Term 3-5 months: 2.55%/year; Term 6-11 months: 3.55%/year; Term 12-36 months: 4.85%/year.
According to Mr. Tong Minh Tuan, some investors, seeing low interest rates, have sought other channels to deposit their money. However, in the coming time, the output of other channels will tend to be tightened due to policies.
"For example, the channel of depositing money through securities companies has been tightened by the Securities Commission, which leads to a certain amount of money being deposited back into banks, causing the mobilization interest rate to continue to decrease," said Mr. Tong Minh Tuan.
| According to the reporter's statistics, since the beginning of the month, 21 banks have reduced deposit interest rates: HDBank, Techcombank, Eximbank, KienLongBank, SCB, PGBank, MB, MSB, NamA Bank, ABBank, Vietcombank, BIDV, VIB, VPBank, TPBank, Saigonbank, VietBank, ACB, VietinBank, Agribank, LPBank. Of which, MB, Eximbank, SCB, Techcombank, VPBank, KienlongBank, Agribank are the banks that have reduced interest rates twice since the beginning of the month. Notably, BIDV and VPBank adjusted their deposit interest rates down three times this month, while VIB reduced its interest rates four times. |
