At the end of the year, savings interest rates continue to increase

Some banks have just adjusted their deposit interest rates up by 0.2-0.6% per year depending on the term to attract capital to serve year-end lending needs.

On the morning of December 14, Ms. Nga went to a branch of a joint stock bank on Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, District 3 (HCMC) to deposit 700 million VND in savings for a 6-month term. The staff there said the interest rate was 6.2% per year, an increase of 0.2% compared to a few days before.

"With the same amount of money, my sister deposited it at the beginning of this month with a similar term and only received an interest rate of 6%, or about 3.5 million VND per month. Now the interest I receive has increased by nearly 120,000 VND per month, so I'm happy," she shared, adding that she also got to participate in a lucky draw and wait for the lucky draw to win a house worth 2.5 billion VND.

Ms. Hai Lan, a retired official in Binh Tan district, also confided that retirees like her mainly live on pensions and savings interest. Although the interest rate increase is not much, it is still a significant amount to spend.

Banks increase deposit interest rates by 0.2-0.6% per year. Photo: PV.

At the end of the year, banks often adjust deposit interest rates and promotions to attract depositors. Accordingly, from December 12, Sacombank adjusted the 2-month term interest rate to increase by 0.2% to 5.3% per year; 3-month term to increase by 0.1% to 5.5% per year.

Deposits with terms from 6 to 8 months of this bank also increased from 6% to 6.2% while longer terms up to less than 12 months increased by 0.4% compared to before, up to 6.4% per year. Terms of one year or more are applied interest rates from 7.05% to 7.4% per year, especially if customers deposit 500 billion or more with a term of 13 months, the interest rate is 7.6% per year.

Similarly, on December 8, VPBank increased interest rates for all terms by at least 0.3% and at most 0.6%. Specifically, for amounts under VND100 million, the bank applies an interest rate of 5.3% for terms from 1 to 5 months, but for amounts over VND100 million, the interest rate is 5.5% per year (the old rate before adjustment was 5% per year).

The 6-month term was adjusted to increase the most by VPBank, from 6.4% to 7% per year for amounts under 100 million and ranging from 7.1 to 7.4% per year for larger amounts.

Nearly a month ago, major banks with State capital also increased their deposit interest rates. At BIDV, one-month and two-month deposits enjoy an interest rate of 4.8% per year, an increase of 0.5% compared to the old interest rate. Three-month deposits were raised from 4.8% to 5.2% per year, equivalent to a five-month term.

Meanwhile, Vietinbank's 6-9 month terms have increased from 5.5-5.7% to 5.8% per year; 12-month term interest rates have increased from 6.5% to 6.8% per year.

The leader of a joint stock bank headquartered in the South said that, in terms of policy, the general policy of the State Bank and commercial banks is to try to lower input interest rates to reduce lending interest rates, supporting businesses and the economy.

However, he explained, year-end credit often increases, especially short-term loans to serve the working capital needs of businesses. Therefore, banks have increased interest rates for all terms, especially short-term ones, to have more capital for lending.

However, according to this person, the increase in interest rates is only local and seasonal. "At the end of the year, people often have a large spending need, in addition, the demand for loans to serve the Tet holiday of businesses is also high," he said, adding that only banks with credit room will increase capital attraction and lending during this time.

According to the report of the National Financial Supervisory Commission, the credit of the banking system has been accelerated significantly in the last months of the year. Specifically, by the end of November 2017, total credit is estimated to have increased by 2.8% compared to October, and by 15.3% compared to the beginning of the year. With this development, it is likely that credit growth for the whole year will reach a maximum of 18-19%.

According to VNE