HCMC – Vietnam’s monetary market saw a significant shift last week as nearly 20 commercial banks simultaneously lowered interest rates for deposits and loans.
Lending rate cuts have been particularly notable. Nam A Bank, for instance, reduced rates by as much as three percentage points per year for individual customers starting April 11. Among state-owned lenders, Vietcombank has capped its deposit rate at 6% per year as of April 13, while Agribank has adopted a mechanism to lower medium- and long-term lending rates in line with declines in savings rates.
On the deposit side, rate cuts have generally ranged from 0.1 to 0.5 percentage point per year. LPBank stands out, slashing rates by 0.4 to 1 percentage point annually for long-term deposits of six to 36 months. Techcombank and Sacombank have also joined the trend, trimming rates by between 0.1 and 0.5 percentage points depending on tenure.
Even digital lenders such as Cake by VPBank have adjusted, lowering their top rate from 9.2% to 8.7% per year, signaling broad consensus across the banking system to reduce funding costs.
The latest round of rate adjustments aligns with directives from the Party Central Committee for the 14th term regarding socio-economic and national financial development. Lowering interest rates is seen as a lever to unlock capital flows and support business expansion, particularly in priority sectors such as import-export, where KienlongBank is seeking to accelerate lending.
Despite the prevailing downward trend, experts caution that further rate cuts should be carefully calibrated amid pressures to control inflation, stabilize the exchange rate, and address imbalances between deposit mobilization and credit growth. To sustain a low-rate environment over the long term, banks are advised to continue optimizing operating costs and restructuring low-cost funding sources, thereby laying a stable foundation for long-term growth.
