Banks raise deposit interest rates

The biggest hikes were by Eximbank, SeABank, NCB, BaoVietBank, VietABank, and PGBank.

SeABank made substantial increases of 0.5-0.6 percentage points for selected terms, and now offers the highest rates for 12-month deposits of 5.9%.

This month some banks have also begun promotions to attract deposits and new customers.

South Korean lender Woori Bank, for instance, is offering 8% on recurring deposits at its new office at Lotte Center in Hanoi.

Deposit interest rates have been going up since early May, increasing from 5.4% to 5.9% since then and the number of lenders offering 5% or higher also doubling to 24.

In the first half of the year banks’ deposits grew by 1.5%, the lowest rate in many years, according to data from the General Statistics Office.

Analysts said the hikes are meant to attract investors away from other asset classes such as gold.

In the first half loans outstanding increased by 6% to nearly VND14.4 quadrillion (US$566.4 billion).

Credit rating agency FiinRatings forecast that businesses’ demand for credit would soar in the second half of the year, spurred by growth in production and exports.