Interest rates for 12-month term capital mobilization at major banks in Ha Tinh are now at 5.3%/year, lower than during the COVID-19 period.

According to records, at the end of 2022, savings interest rates reached 11-12%/year in the context of many banks in the area "racing" to mobilize capital.

However, the trend of decreasing interest rates started from April 2023, after the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) lowered the operating interest rate. Accordingly, in the first half of this year alone, the SBV has adjusted the operating interest rate 4 times in a row, including 3 times reducing the ceiling on mobilization interest rates.

Interest rate for deposits with terms of 12 months or more at Vietcombank Ha Tinh is currently 5.3%/year.

Through monitoring, starting from the third quarter of 2023, savings interest rates of credit institutions in Ha Tinh decreased rapidly and strongly. In particular, a series of "big guys" pioneered in deeply reducing mobilization interest rates to create momentum to reduce lending interest rates, supporting people and businesses to invest in production and business in the context of many difficulties.

Most recently, on October 3, 2023, Vietcombank Ha Tinh reduced 0.2% for a series of terms of 3 months or more. Specifically, for both counter and online savings, the highest mobilization interest rate of this "bank" is only 5.3%/year (applied for terms of 12 months or more). Thus, Vietcombank has brought the mobilization interest rate to a historic low, lower than the COVID-19 period (Vietcombank had listed the 12-month term interest rate at 5.5%/year throughout the period from July 2021 to July 2022).

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Ha - Head of Customer Service Department, Vietcombank Ha Tinh, in recent times, the branch's mobilized capital has grown quite strongly. By September 30, 2023, the total mobilized capital of the unit reached nearly 13,000 billion VND (an increase of 17.7% compared to the end of 2022). However, currently, capital mobilization interest rates have decreased sharply, so people's deposit transactions have slowed down somewhat. Many customers choose to deposit in the short term to "wait" for interest rates to improve early next year.

Customers come to transact at VietinBank Ha Tinh.

On October 9, 2023, VietinBank Ha Tinh also reduced deposit interest rates for many terms. Accordingly, interest rates from 3 to under 6 months decreased from 3.5% to 3.3%/year, interest rates from 6 to under 9 months and 9 to 12 months decreased from 4.5%/year to 4.3%/year. In addition, terms of 12-13 months, over 13 months to 24 months and over 24 months at VietinBank decreased from 5.5%/year to 5.3%/year.

According to a transaction officer at VietiBank Ha Tinh, the recent sharp drop in deposit interest rates has caused people's savings at the branch to decline (down 10-20% compared to the beginning of the year). Currently, some customers have decided to withdraw their savings to invest in channels such as gold, real estate... when seeing positive signals from these markets.

Thus, up to this point, the 12-month term interest rate at the four "big guys" in the area, Vietcombank, VietinBank, BIDV and Agribank, has returned to 5.3%/year, lower than the COVID-19 period.

For joint stock commercial banks, savings interest rates have also “plummeted” in recent times. At HDBank Ha Tinh, in the past 3 months, deposit interest rates have continuously decreased, even decreasing 3 times in one month.

Mr. Ngo Xuan Lich - Deputy Director of HDBank Ha Tinh said: "On October 11, HDBank continued to reduce deposit interest rates for many terms. Accordingly, the highest deposit interest rate at the branch is currently only 6.1%/year (for a 13-month term), the 12-month term interest rate is 5.9%/year, the 6-month deposit interest rate is 5.7%/year... Currently, interest rates have "hit rock bottom", so the amount of money deposited in the bank has decreased significantly compared to before".

Ms. Tran Thi Xuan (Van Yen Ward, Ha Tinh City) said: “My family has just had a savings book that is due for final settlement. Currently, the interest rates of banks are low, so I only choose to deposit it for a short term (5 months) and wait for the interest rate schedule in the new year to decide on a suitable investment channel.”

Lowering deposit interest rates is a necessary move for banks to continue lowering lending rates to support the economy.

According to experts' analysis, the reason for the sharp decline in deposit interest rates in recent times is due to low credit demand. The economy's capital absorption capacity is gloomy, so banks have a "money surplus" situation. The global economic recession has severely affected the production and business activities of many domestic enterprises, with export orders decreasing, markets shrinking, and large inventories.... In addition, consumer lending has also slowed down.

According to the industry, credit growth in the first 9 months of 2023 only reached over 5.7% (the target for the whole year is 14%). Meanwhile, capital mobilization of the banking system has grown quite well since the beginning of the year. Therefore, lowering deposit interest rates is a necessary move for credit institutions to continue lowering lending rates, supporting the economy in the context of many difficulties and challenges.

Thu Phuong