Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) cut its deposit rates from 26 October by 1.5 to 3.2 percentage points, leaving most savings terms paying just 0.1% to 0.7% a year, close to 0%, VnExpress reported. The new schedule came about a week after the State Bank of Vietnam asked lenders to lower savings rates on terms of six months or more and to cut lending rates, at a time when most banks in the market had announced reductions.
SCB's new rates
| Term | New rate | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Under 6 months | 0.1% a year | Lower still if interest is paid upfront or monthly |
| 6 to 11 months | 0.5% a year | Down 2.5 percentage points |
| 2 to 3 years (interest at maturity) | 0.7% a year | Previously 3.9% a year |
The move widens the gap between SCB and the rest of the market, according to VnExpress. On 12-month deposits, SCB now pays about 5 percentage points less than the state-owned banks and about 7 percentage points less than private lenders. Market rates are commonly 3% to 6% for six months, 13-month deposits can earn 7.9% on posted rates, and actual returns run 1 to 3 percentage points higher for customers who use promo codes in banking apps or staff referral schemes. On the lending side, SCB charges an average of 5.35% a year.
From top payer to special control
SCB used to rank among the highest payers for deposits. VnExpress traces the turnaround:
- Early 2021: while the four state-owned banks, Agribank, BIDV, Vietcombank and VietinBank, paid 5.6% for 12 months, SCB offered 7.3%.
- Mid-2022: SCB raised its rate to 8.25% when others paid around 7%; in the middle of that year the State Bank placed it under special control.
- 2023 to 2025: SCB closed nearly 190 transaction offices, by VnExpress's count.
- Since mid-July 2026: another 39 branches have stopped operating, leaving eight nationwide.
- 26 October 2026: the near-zero rate schedule takes effect.
Under the Law on Credit Institutions, a lender under special control is usually guaranteed liquidity by the State Bank, can receive special loans and is exempt from deposit insurance fees, so it does not need high rates to keep savers, VnExpress explained. Such a bank must concentrate on bad debt, its lending is restricted and it needs little new funding, so raising expensive deposits would only add cost.
What the cuts mean for savers and businesses
By 26 October most banks had announced deposit rate cuts, typically about 0.5% a year on terms of six months or more, while lending rates came down by 1.5% to 2%, with some programmes going as far as 3% a year, VietnamPlus reported. For savers, that means lower returns; SCB customers now earn far less than the market average.
For borrowers the picture is mixed. A Hanoi water-pipe maker said it had just borrowed 2.5 billion dong at a rate 1.5% a year lower than before, easing costs as orders fall. Others find cheap credit harder to reach. Tran Thanh Trong, general director of Sang Ban Mai JSC, said rates above 10% a year are more than many manufacturers can bear given thin margins and long capital cycles, and urged banks to be more flexible on collateral and to assess firms on contracts, cash flow and track record.
Associate Professor Nguyen Van Phuong of the University of Economics, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, said a programme announced on a grand scale but with little actually disbursed, or with incentives lasting only the first few months, cannot be called a success. Cutting deposit rates by around 0.5 percentage point does not instantly give banks room to lower lending rates by 1.5 to 2 percentage points, he noted, because older deposits still carry their contracted rates and the average cost of funds falls only as they mature. In his example, cutting the rate by 1.5% on 10,000 billion dong of loans for a year reduces interest income by about 150 billion dong, before any savings on deposits.
TCBS Securities estimates that if loans receiving cuts of 1.5% to 2% make up about 3% to 5% of the loan book, the sector's net interest margin could slip by about 0.03% to 0.07% and pre-tax profit by about 2% to 4%.
What comes next
SCB said in a mid-September bulletin on its website that dealing with collateral to recover debts is its top priority, VnExpress reported, while the bank keeps shrinking its network.
Across the system, BIDV chairman Le Ngoc Lam has called on banks to make genuine deposit rate cuts of about 0.5% so that lending rates can fall. Associate Professor Dinh Trong Thinh said the State Bank should keep using its monetary tools flexibly and support liquidity so funding costs fall in a lasting way, while Le Duy Binh, director of Economica Vietnam, said monetary policy must still contain inflation and keep the exchange rate stable. The real test, experts cited by VietnamPlus say, is how many businesses actually obtain loans and see lower financing costs, not the size of the advertised cuts.