Demand VND Interest Rate Surged to 16 per cent/Year

Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SCB) has raised its dong deposit interest rates of two-month deposits to 16 per cent per annum, the highest level offered by Vietnamese banks so far, the Liberated Saigon newspaper said June 2.

 

With such a new rate, the HCM City-based lender has broken the peak of 15.6 per cent maintained by the Southeast Asia Bank (SeABank) for several recent days, the paper said.

 

High demand deposit interest rates and a cap on lending rates at 18 per cent/year have recently forced commercial banks, including SCB, to apply additional fees on all credit services. The fees directly caused the “real lending rates” to soar to more than 20 per cent, higher than the limit.

 

SCB reportedly gained VND364 billion (US$22.8 million) in pretax profit last year, up 134 per cent on year, with total assets of VND26 trillion, up 2.5 folds on year.

 

The bank reported its outstanding loans growth 137 per cent to nearly VND20 trillion, and deposits of 155 per cent to VND22.8 trillion. (Liberated Saigon)