Capital mobilization increased sharply at the beginning of spring.
(Baonghean)After the long Lunar New Year holiday, banks resumed operations, and a large number of customers came to transact in the first days of the new year. Many banks that faced liquidity difficulties before the holiday due to a sharp decline in mobilized capital reported a significant increase in deposits within just two days after the holiday.
Currently, deposit and money transfer transactions at banks in Vinh City are quite active. Due to the long Tet holiday, most commercial bank branches are very crowded at the beginning of the new year. Taking advantage of this demand, banks are continuously launching promotional programs and offering "lucky money" gifts to thank depositors. One such program is the special "Triple Luck" savings prize draw, celebrating the 25th anniversary of Agribank Vietnam, running for three months from February 6th, 2013 to May 6th, 2013. The program offers a total of 10,598 prizes (worth approximately 16.4 billion VND) and the chance to win three grand prizes worth nearly 4 billion VND each – a Toyota Camry 2.5G car worth 1.2 billion VND – for lucky customers. At SHB Bank's Nghe An branch, they are also implementing a "Quickly Grab the Lucky Gifts" program, raising deposit interest rates to over 9% per year. The value of promotional offers from commercial banks has also increased significantly, making them attractive to customers and stimulating the flow of idle capital into the credit institution system. Mr. Minh, head of accounting at SHB Bank, said that while deposits increased by 66 billion VND in January, they have increased by over 57 billion VND so far in February. In the first two trading days after Tet (February 18th and 19th, the 9th and 10th days of Tet), deposits increased by nearly 50 billion VND.
A large number of customers were conducting transactions at Agribank's headquarters.
Nghe An branch on the first day of the new year.
Meanwhile, at the Agricultural and Rural Development Bank (Agribank) branch in Nghe An, the capital mobilization situation at the beginning of the year also showed many positive signs. On the first trading day of the year (February 18th), over 169 billion VND was mobilized, of which 138 billion VND came from individual deposits. On February 19th, this increased to 239 billion VND, with individual deposits increasing by 108 billion VND. Mr. Phan Hoang Vuong – Director of Agribank Nghe An branch – said that the capital mobilization increased very well and steadily in all districts.
Despite deposit interest rates falling to 8% per year, many people still choose savings accounts instead of investing in gold or real estate. Saving money and preserving capital remains the top priority for many individuals and businesses. Mr. Trong, the director of a private enterprise in Hung Phuc ward, who deposited money at SHB, shared: “At the beginning of the year, our business plan hadn't been implemented yet, so we temporarily deposited the capital we earned into the bank. Besides, at the beginning of the year, people and organizations/businesses tend to deposit money rather than borrow for good luck.”
Besides the usual "January is a month for leisure," lending has been quite sluggish due to difficulties in production and business. Except for a few banks like Agribank, which saw good loan growth mainly thanks to investments in agriculture and rural areas, winter-spring production costs, and new rural development projects (an increase of 170 billion VND in January and mid-February 2013), most banks faced difficulties in credit growth, with lending almost stagnating. At Sacombank's Nghe An branch, Mr. Hoang Chi Hung, Deputy Director, stated that capital mobilization increased by 5 billion VND in the first two days, but lending remained stagnant. A similar situation exists at Sacombank and several other banks. It is believed that the economy continues to face many difficulties and challenges, with high inventory levels, leading to a slowdown in credit growth and the possibility of further decline in the coming period. Therefore, deposit interest rates may still decrease in 2013.
Thu Huyen