Deposit interest rates tumble

Since the State Bank ò Vietnam reduced the policy rate in mid-March, more than a dozen banks, including VPBank, VIB, Sacombank, SHB, HDBank and Viet Capital Bank, have all cut the rates.

Most private lenders listed the highest interest rate of 8%-9% a year. Some others such as Sacombank, VIB, Techcombank, CBBank and PGBank even offered rates below 8%.

Currently, there are only two banks that list interest rates above 9% a year: ABBank (9.1%) and SCB (9%).

However, the actual interest rates for over the counter transactions are still different from listed ones. Some banks are still willing to pay an interest rate of 9.5% per year for terms of 12 or 13 months.

At OCB, the 13-month term deposit rate is 9.4% a year, 0.5%-0.6% higher than listed. At Kienlongbank, depositors are offered cash equivalent to the interest rate plus 0.4% compared to the listed price.

Compared to the peak period at the end of last year (when the interest rate was as high as 12% a year), the savings interest rate has dropped significantly.

In the interbank market – where banks borrow from each other — interest rates fell to their lowest level in 8 months.