Posted savings rates at Vietnamese banks have fallen across the board after the State Bank of Vietnam ordered on 18 October that deposit rates for terms of six months or more be cut by at least 0.5%. A VnExpress survey found that by 26 October most banks listed rates of no more than 7% a year on their websites. Savers who deposit through banking apps or promotions, however, can still commonly earn 8-9% a year, although that is below the offers of nearly 9.5% made about two weeks before the survey.
Posted rates versus what savers actually get
According to VnExpress, most banks have trimmed posted rates for terms of six months and longer; Saigonbank has the highest posted rate on the market, 7.9% a year for 13 months. But for several months the posted tables have not reflected actual market rates, which run 1-3% higher. A growing number of banks, including Vietcombank, MB, SHB and NCB, offer voucher codes applied automatically in their apps, with no minimum deposit or a minimum of only a few million dong.
| Bank | Rate posted on website | Rate applied via app |
|---|---|---|
| Vietcombank | 3-5.4% a year (online, 6-12 months) | Up to 6.8% (from 3 million dong) |
| SHB | Up to about 6% (online) | 8.1-8.3% (from 1 million dong) |
| NCB | Up to 6.3% (online) | 9% |
| MB | 5.8% (12 months) | 8.2% (from 10 million dong, with a birthday voucher) |
Branch staff are also still competing for deposits through personal contacts and online groups, offering rate top-ups and gifts. VnExpress recorded VPBank staff offering 9.1% for six months and 9.2% for 12 months to new customers from 1 million dong; GPBank 8.4-9% for 6-13 months; Vikki Bank 8.4-9% for 6-11 months on deposits of 50 million to 500 million dong; and MBV 9% on 100 million to under 3 billion dong through a staff referral programme. Among state-owned lenders, BIDV staff in Hanoi offered 7.8% below 100 million dong and 8% from 100 million dong, with gifts.
Weeks of pressure from the State Bank
A KBVN+ timeline based on VnExpress:
- Early October: the State Bank repeatedly issues documents and reminders telling banks to lower rates.
- About two weeks before the survey: promotional rates of nearly 9.5% a year are on offer.
- 18 October: the State Bank orders a cut of at least 0.5% in deposit rates for terms of six months or more, or banks face tighter credit growth quotas. Experts say the move helps curb rising funding costs.
- 26 October: posted rates at most banks are no more than 7%; actual promotional rates are commonly 8-9%.
On the lending side, KienlongBank shows what preferential programmes cost. On the morning of 26 October, the bank told the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange that its third-quarter after-tax profit fell nearly 13% year on year to about 430 billion dong, mainly because of preferential lending programmes in line with State Bank guidance; in August it had announced lending rate cuts of up to 2.5% a year for small and medium-sized businesses, VnExpress reported. Even so, its average lending rate rose from 9.05% in July to 9.37% in September. Over the first nine months, KienlongBank's after-tax profit rose 11% to nearly 1,370 billion dong.
The dollar edges up at banks
Also on 26 October, Vietcombank raised its dollar rate by 30 dong on both sides to 25,640-26,050 dong per USD, while Techcombank added about 11-12 dong to 25,658-26,052 dong, VnExpress reported. Bank prices are still about 1.2% lower than at the start of the year, meaning the dong has gained against the dollar over nearly 10 months. Techcombank analysts expect the rate to stay stable at around 26,000 dong in the final months of the year, helped by a VND-USD interest rate gap expected to stay above 3 percentage points and record disbursed foreign direct investment of 21.1 billion USD in the first nine months.
What it means for savers and borrowers
For savers, the 1-3% gap between posted and actual rates means the return depends heavily on how they deposit: through an app or via branch staff, the minimum amount, whether they are new customers, or whether they come through a referral. For borrowers, KienlongBank's case shows rate cuts targeted at specific customer groups while the bank's average lending rate still went up.
What's next
Rong Viet Securities (VDSC) expects deposit rates to move sideways, or at least not rise again, for the rest of 2026, as competition to raise rates is more tightly controlled and many large joint-stock banks are close to their credit growth ceilings, VnExpress reported. VDSC warned, however, against expecting deposit rates to fall further in 2027, because the economy's demand for medium- and long-term capital remains large and deposit growth has not kept pace with lending.