Vietnamplus

Thanks to increases in savings interest rates, deposits at banks increased strongly in the first two months of this year after declining last year.

A financial report analysis of 24 Vietnamese banks shows that the average Current and Savings Account (CASA) ratio of the banks rose from 17 percent in 2020 to 19.4 percent in late 2021.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has issued a Decision 1349/QD-NHNN on interest rates applicable to reserve requirement deposits and excess reserves of credit institutions and foreign banks’ branches in the SBV.

Demand for deposits by individuals have increased significantly in recent months as people tended to switch to cashless payment methods, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Competition among banks to lure demand deposits is becoming fiercer as the cheap capital source helps banks increase their net interest income (NIM) ratio.

Credit rating agency Moody's recently announced its rating upgrade on Agribank's long-term foreign-currency deposit rating from B1 to Ba3.

The Vietnam Engine and Agricultural Machinery Corporation (VEAM) saw revenue slump 18 percent year-on-year to reach 910 billion VND (39.3 million USD) in the third quarter of this year.

The dollarisation remains high in Cambodia, revealed the latest annual report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the Southeast Asian nation.

More than 1,400 Vietnamese guest workers in the Republic of Korea (RoK) are set to lose their deposit of 100 million VND (4,239 USD) each due to fleeing from their workplace or attempting to illegally stay in the country.

Vietnam needs effective changes and reforms to attract more foreign portfolio investment, Andy Ho, chief investment officer of investment fund VinaCapital, has said.

Singapore is witnessing a jump in deposits in local banks, which reflects investors' risk aversion and inflows from other markets, including Hong Kong (China), said Bloomberg Intelligence.

Checkable deposits saw a significant quarter-on-quarter decline as of the end of March, despite more payment accounts opened in the first three months of this year.

To encourage customers to deposit money online amid the COVID-19 pandemic, many banks have raised interest rates for online savings by up to 1.4 percent higher than over-the-counter deposits.

Commercial banks continued to cut deposit rates on September 19 after the State bank revised down benchmark rates.

The Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) expects profit this year will reach just 1.7 trillion VND (73.4 million USD), a decrease of more than 6 trillion VND compared to the year’s forecast, due to the effect of COVID-19.

Resident and non-resident foreigners in Vietnam are still permitted to make term deposits at local banks despite some banks saying they would not accept savings deposits from individual foreign customers, the State Bank of Vietnam has said.

As the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has ordered tight control over real estate loans by credit institutions, property firms and developers have to seek alternative ways to raise their capital, and many of them have decided to issue shares to fund their business.

The Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) has been recently named in the top 500 strongest banks (AB500) in Asia-Pacific by the Asian Banker.

Many commercial banks raised deposit interest rates in recent months, triggering worries about the increasing pressure on the lending rates.

Many commercial banks have recently increased deposit interest rates, but experts forecast that the rise will last only a short time and won’t have a domino effect on lending rates.