Maximizing Your Savings: The Rising Interest Rates of Deposit Accounts at Banks

Since May, there has been a wave of savings interest rate hikes by banks, with dozens of increases, and some banks have raised interest rates up to 3-4 times in just one month.

From the beginning of July, six commercial banks have increased their deposit interest rates, including NCB, Eximbank, SeABank, VIB, BaoViet Bank, and Saigonbank. Notably, Eximbank has raised interest rates twice in a row just on July 4 and 5.

Accordingly, the new interest rate table at Eximbank is listed for over-the-counter deposits with a term of 3 months, increasing by 0.1 percentage points to 3.4% per year, a term of 6 months increasing by 0.4 percentage points to 4.7% per year, and a term of 12 months increasing by 0.1 percentage points to 5.0% per year.

Previously, NCB was the first bank to raise savings interest rates in July. Specifically, NCB adjusted the interest rate for terms of 1-5 months to 3.6-4.1% per year, a term of 6 months enjoying an interest rate of 5.25% per year, terms of 9-11 months enjoying an interest rate of 5.3-5.55% per year, a term of 12 months receiving an interest rate of 5.6% per year, and deposits over 12 months receiving an interest rate of 5.7-6.0% per year.

At the same time, NCB is still applying an interest rate of 6.1% per year for deposits of 18-60 months. This is also one of the highest deposit interest rates in the market today (not including special large deposits).

Meanwhile, at SeABank, with the savings interest rate product receiving interest at the end of the term, the interest rate for terms of 1-2 months was increased by 0.5 percentage points per year to 3.2% per year. Terms of 3-5 months increased by 0.8 percentage points per year to 3.7% per year.

The interest rate for terms of 6-11 months increased by 0.6 percentage points per year. Specifically, the interest rate for a term of 6 months is listed at 4.2% per year, 7 months at 4.3% per year, 8 months at 4.35% per year, 9 months at 4.4% per year, 10 months at 4.45% per year, and 11 months at 4.5% per year.

The savings interest rate for a term of 12 months was adjusted up by 0.5 percentage points per year to 4.95% per year. The term of 15 months also increased by 0.5 percentage points per year, currently reaching 5.5% per year. While the interest rate for terms of 18-36 months increased by 0.7 percentage points per year to 5.7% per year.

At VIB, the deposit interest rate was slightly adjusted up by 0.1 percentage points for a term of one month, to 3.1% per year, and the remaining terms remained unchanged.

At Saigonbank, today (July 8) has just issued a new interest rate table, increasing for almost all terms. Accordingly, the interest rate for a term of 1 month increased by 0.2 percentage points to 2.5% per year, the interest rate for a term of 3 months increased by 0.3 percentage points to 2.8% per year, the interest rate for a term of 6 months increased by 0.3 percentage points to 4.1% per year, the interest rate for a term of 9 months increased by 0.3 percentage points to 4.4% per year, and the interest rate for a term of 12 months increased by 0.3 percentage points to 5.3% per year.

On the same day, BaoViet Bank also recorded an increase of about 0.1-0.2 percentage points in interest rates for most terms.

Previously, in June, the market recorded 23 commercial banks increasing deposit interest rates, including: TPBank, VIB, GPBank, BaoViet Bank, LPBank, Nam A Bank, OceanBank, ABBank, Bac A Bank, MSB, MBBank, Eximbank, OCB, BVBank, NCB, VietBank, VietA Bank, VPBank, PGBank, Techcombank, ACB, SHB, and VietinBank. Many of these banks raised interest rates 2-3 times in June.

According to analysts, the low growth of deposits from people and businesses in the first months of the year, along with the recovery of credit growth, has caused many banks to raise deposit interest rates to ensure a balance of capital sources. In addition, the intervention activities of the State Bank through bond and foreign currency sales tools also affect the VND liquidity of banks.

Interest rates will continue to rise

In a recent report on the banking sector, Vietcombank Securities Company (VCBS) forecast that the interest rate level will continuously remain high in the coming time.

The reason for the high interest rate level stems from the context of inflationary pressure increasing from the third quarter with factors such as salary increases and USD/VND exchange rate differences.

According to calculations by VCBS, although the deposit interest rate is tending to increase gradually from the bottom, the interest rate level at the present time is still lower than the average interest rate of 3 years before the COVID-19 pandemic, which was 5.05% per year.

VCBS analysts forecast a slight increase in the interest rate level in the second and third quarters, from 0.3 to 0.5 percentage points. At the same time, the pressure to increase may also increase in the fourth quarter of 2024, and it is expected that the interest rate for the whole year may increase from 0.5 to 1 percentage point.

Previously, at a workshop on market forecast and investment strategy held at the end of May, Mr. Dinh Duc Quang, Executive Director of the Monetary Business Division of UOB Vietnam, said that the move to increase deposit interest rates by banks is not only following the trend of international markets but also aims to balance with the yield of other investment channels in the market.

According to data from the State Bank, credit growth for the whole system as of the end of April is still below 2%, which is low compared to the same period in previous years. Mr. Quang said that in fact, the trend of credit growth is usually very slow in the first quarter and recovers in the second quarter of each year. He predicted that deposit interest rates could increase by 0.5-1% on different terms from the second half of this year.