PEOPLE PREFER BANK DEPOSITS AMID GLOBAL UNCERTAINTIES

Accumulated and idle money of local people is continually flowing into banks in the context of increasing savings interest rates and rising risks of other investment channels amid the global uncertainties.

Nguyễn Phương Thảo, a salesperson in a Hà Nội-based logistics company, said in the past two years, when the savings interest rate at banks dropped sharply due to the pandemic, she used her idle money to invest in the securities market and got a decent profit.

However, now, when the stock market is plunging while deposit interest rates are increasing, she has decided to deposit her savings at banks.

“I am depositing my savings at a bank with an interest rate of 5.65 per cent for a year term and do not invest in any other channels because I feel secure when depositing my money in a reputable bank. Though the interest rate is not too high, it is stable, and I can withdraw it quickly when needed,” Thảo told Việt Nam News.

Nguyễn Ánh Hồng, who lives in Hà Nội’s Đống Đa District, said: “Currently, deposits at banks are my choice as a safe, effective and low-risk investment channel in the context that other channels, such as stock or real estate, are bleak.”

Though the savings rate in the first half of 2022 increased significantly compared to early this year, the interest rate race did not stop when many banks continually adjusted their rates right in the early days of August.

ACB has announced it will raise savings interest rates by 0.3-0.8 percentage points per year since early August, depending on the deposit packages.

Previously, at the beginning of July 2022, the bank also raised its savings rates by up to 1 percentage point per year on some terms.

Currently, for the Tài lộc savings package, the highest interest rate at ACB is 6.5 per cent per year, applicable to customers depositing more than VNĐ100 million on a 36-month term.

For online savings, the bank has increased the rates for terms from six to nine months by 0.8 percentage points to 5.6 per cent per year. If customers deposit from VNĐ500 million on a 12-month term, the offered rate is up to 6.2 per cent per year.

At the end of the last week, VPBank also informed customers about the increase in savings interest rates from 0.1-0.5 percentage points per year. Specifically, for over-the-counter savings, the highest rate is listed at 6.7 per cent per year for deposits worth more than VNĐ50 billion with a term of at least 36 months.

For online savings, customers will be offered higher rates, ranging from about 3.4 per cent to 7 per cent per year, applicable to terms from one month to 36 months.

HDBank raised its over-the-counter savings interest rates by 0.4-0.75 per cent per annum for most terms while increasing its online savings interest rates by 0.15-0.3 percentage points per year.

Vietcombank was the third bank among the Big4 group (four big State-owned commercial banks including Agribank, VietinBank, BIDV and Vietcombank) to raise the savings interest rates by 0.1-0.2 percentage point, making its rates to the same levels as the remaining three banks in the Big4.

Previously, BIDV and Agribank also slightly increased their long-term savings interest rates by 0.1 percentage points per year. The savings interest rates at Vietcombank have been raised to 3.1 per cent per year from one to two months and 5.6 per cent per year on 12 months.

Notably, in this month’s rate adjustment, SCB lost the top position regarding the highest over-the-counter savings interest rates to CBBank. Specifically, on the first day of August 2022, the 12-month and 24-month savings rates at CBBank were raised to 7.45 and 7.5 per cent per year, respectively, while the rates at SCB remained unchanged against the previous month at 7.3 per cent per year.

The significant increase in savings interest rates this year has attracted many individual depositors at banks. According to the SBV’s latest statistics, by the end of May this year, nearly VNĐ11.4 quadrillion were deposited at banks by economic organisations and individuals, of which roughly VNĐ5.57 quadrillion belonged to individual customers, up more than 5 per cent against the end of 2021.

In a recent macro outlook report for the second half of 2022, Vietcombank Securities Company (VCBS) forecast savings interest rates will rise by 100-150 basis points for the whole of 2022 due to inflationary pressure and growing credit demand.

Source: VNS