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Banks attract gold deposits
A number of commercial banks continue to attract gold deposits, offering terms of up to 12 months, despite a requirement from the State Bank of Viet Nam that they must cease doing so by early May.
They have even increased the interest rate from the usual 2 per cent to 3 per cent or more per year.
Eximbank Viet Nam recently launched a special programme with terms ranging from one to three months for individual depositors of a minimum of 10 taels.
The bank's normal programme has been extended up to 12 months. The highest annual interest rate is 2.2 per cent for a three-month term, and the lowest a 12-month one.
ACB has terms as long as 10 months, and DongA Bank has one for a minimum of three months, with a top rate of 3 per cent.
According to a local newspaper, several other banks, including Sai Gon Commercial Bank, offer a 3.5 per cent rate for three – to 12-month terms, while Nam A Bank has applied a 4 per cent interest rate.
Explaining the situation, a banker said the State Bank planned to mobilise gold from people who are keeping it at home, estimated at between 300 to 500 tonnes. Therefore, banks had to move in advance with a higher interest rate to make the deposits attractive.
Dr Le Tham Duong, head of the business administration faculty of the Banking University of HCM City, said banks allowed to mobilise gold to change it into Vietnamese dong would enjoy a large interest-rate gap. Banks facing liquidity difficulty want to mobilise gold to use the gold value as mortgages in order to get loans in the interbank market.
The increased interest rate on gold deposits may prompt people to buy gold and put gold rather than dong in deposits, which may have a negative impact on the State Bank's efforts to gradually lower the interest rate in dong to 10 per cent this year, from the current 14 per cent.
vietnamnews
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