Deposit rates surge after central bank raises rate ceiling

A slew of small- and medium-size commercial banks have hiked their deposit interest rates by 0.3-1 percentage points after the State Bank of Vietnam raised the deposit rate ceiling Friday.

Per the central bank's decision, the deposit rate ceiling for term deposits from one month to less than six months has increased by 1 percentage point to 5% per year. For demand deposits and those with terms of less than 1 month, the rate ceiling has risen from 0.2% to 0.5% per year.

The State Bank made the move after the Federal Reserve (Fed) for the third time in a row had raised the benchmark interest rate by 75 percentage points to tame inflation in the U.S.

The deposit rate ceiling hike allows banks in need of capital to pay higher deposit rates to encourage depositors. That also means lending rates might increase in tandem.

Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) announced Friday new rates for term deposits from one month to three months at a maximum 4.4% per year, up 0.4 percentage points. The bank also raised the rate for term deposits of 36 months to 6.9% per year.

Saigon-Hanoi Bank (SHB) raised the rate for term deposits from one month to six months by 0.8-0.9 percentage points to 4.6-4.9%.

The rates for longer-term deposits have also gone up by 0.4-0.5 percentage points. The bank's rate for 36-month term deposits is now at 7.1%.

KienLongBank (KLB) set the new deposit rate for term deposits of between one and six months at a maximum 5% and the figure for 36-month term deposits is 6.95%.

Similar to KLB, Viet Capital Bank (BVB) set 5% interest rate for term deposits of between one and six months. For term deposits of 12 months or more, the highest interest rate is 7.3%.

However, major banks like Vietcombank, BIDV, VietinBank - those with the state as majority shareholder, and leading private lenders like VPBank and Techcombank have yet to raise their deposit interest rates.

Vietcombank and BIDV set their rates for term deposits between one and three months at 3.1-3.4%, six months at 4%, and 12-36 months at 5.6%.

VPBank’s rates for term deposits between one and three months are 3.2-3.6%, six months 5.2%, and 36 months 5.8%.

VNDirect Securities anticipated deposit interest rates may climb by 0.3-0.5 percentage points in the last months of the year from the old levels recorded before the State Bank changed its regulatory interest rates.

Accordingly, the average interest rate for 12-month term deposits at commercial banks might hit 6.1-6.3% by the end of the year, which is still lower than the pre-pandemic 7% rate per year, according to the broker.

VNDirect expected the deposit rate would continue going up in 2023, as the State Bank would raise its regulatory interest rate to rein in inflation and stabilize the exchange rate while commercial banks need more capital for lending activities amid robust economic recovery.

It predicted deposit interest rates may increase by 0.5 percentage points next year, and the rate for 12-month term deposits would rise to 6.6-6.8% per year by the end of 2023, still below the pre-pandemic 7% per year.