Deposit and lending interest rates are trending upwards sharply. In this situation, the banking sector says it will continue to direct credit flows strongly into production and business sectors and growth drivers.
Deposit interest rates reach 8.5 percent -9 percent per year
Since the beginning of March this year, the competition for deposit interest rates at commercial banks has become more intense, with rates of 8-8.5 percent per year no longer uncommon. At VPBank, customers depositing from VND50 billion can enjoy a maximum interest rate of 8.3 percent per year for a 6-month term and 8.5 percent per year for a 12-month term. Other banks such as MB also apply a rate of 8.5 percent per year, while Vikki Bank and Cake maintain interest rates of 8-8.4 percent per year.
Even MSB and PVcombank announced interest rates as high as 9 percent per year for 12-13 month terms with large amounts, from VND500 billion to VND2,000 billion. In reality, the increase in deposit interest rates by banks has pushed up borrowing costs for consumer and real estate sectors. Currently, the highest interest rate for home loans has reached 12-14 percent per year.
Dinh Duc Quang, Director of Currency Trading (UOB Vietnam), commented that the increase in interest rates stems from several factors. First, it comes from the high demand for credit in the market, contributing to GDP growth of 8 percent for the whole of 2025. In addition, the trend of foreign investors selling off securities, lasting from 2025 to early 2026, is causing real capital to withdraw from the market.
Furthermore, the tightening of revenue management for household businesses and the slow disbursement of public investment funds have resulted in less-than-expected cash flow returning to the system, creating localized liquidity stress and forcing banks to raise interest rates to attract capital.
A leader of a commercial bank in Ho Chi Minh City stated that liquidity has been above 100 percent in the first two months of the year, forcing banks to increase interest rates to attract capital and compensate for the difference. Future interest rate movements will depend on short-term regulatory measures by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV).
Liquidity will be abundant in the second half of the year
Although interest rates are rising, experts believe that with a credit growth target of approximately 15 percent in 2026, the regulatory authorities are tightly controlling capital flows into risky sectors, thereby limiting speculative activities and contributing to the stability of interest rates.
Nguyen Thanh Tung, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietcombank, said the bank is implementing 15 loan programs with interest rates 0.5-3.5 percent lower than the market average.
As of the end of February, more than 7,000 businesses had accessed preferential capital, with outstanding loans exceeding VND740,000 billion. The VND670,000 billion preferential credit package for the retail segment has also provided access to over 20,500 individual and institutional customers with outstanding loans exceeding VND47,000 billion.
“These figures show that Vietcombank continues to maintain a large scale of preferential credit support, both accompanying businesses and promoting economic growth in the context of a volatile market,” said Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tung.
Similarly, Pham Hong Hai, General Director of OCB, said that this year, the bank aims to focus on improving the quality of growth. Preferential credit will be prioritized in manufacturing, import-export, and public investment sectors – groups expected to continue playing a driving role in the economy's growth.
Regarding future interest rate trends, lecturer Chau Dinh Linh from the Ho Chi Minh City University of Banking predicts that liquidity in the entire system will be more abundant in the second half of 2026 thanks to favorable deposit growth, as deposit interest rates increase and the impetus from public investment disbursement brings a large amount of money back into the banking system. In particular, with the State Bank of Vietnam's cautious credit growth target of 15 percent and tight control over capital flows into real estate, the pressure on money supply will be reduced, creating room to maintain stable interest rates, making a sharp increase unlikely.
Vietnamese dong interest rates have been on a steady upward trajectory since the third quarter of 2025, rising by 1 to 2 percentage points across both the interbank and retail deposit markets, a trend that underscores mounting liquidity pressures within the financial system. Specifically, 1-month rates range from 3-4.75 percent per year, while 3-month rates are commonly in the range of 4-4.75 percent per year. For 6-month terms, while Vietnam's four largest commercial banks, including Vietcombank, BIDV, Agribank and VietinBank (the Big 4 - the four largest state-owned commercial banks in Vietnam) maintain rates of 4.5-5.7 percent per year, other banks have pushed interest rates up to 6.8-7.1 percent per year, with PGBank and Techcombank offering the highest rates.
