While savings interest rates have shown signs of cooling down, the rates on certificates of deposit (CDs) have kept rising by 0.1-0.3 percentage points per year.

 

Following the SBV’s deposit rate cut directive last week, 20 banks have lowered their over-the-counter savings rates for six-month terms by 0.5 percentage points from the October 16 level.

 

However, the interest rates for CDs have continued to rise.

 

MB is offering a rate of up to 8 per cent per annum on three-month CDs for deposits of VNĐ300 million or more, 3.25 percentage points higher than the rate for a standard savings account of the same term. For deposits of VNĐ1 billion or more, the annual rate can reach 9.4 per cent.

 

Similarly, VPBank is offering CD rates of up to 9 per cent per annum, while BVBank provides a maximum rate of 8.2 per cent per annum for terms ranging from six to 12 months.

 

The high CD rates showed that competitive pressure to attract capital remains, even as the general level of savings interest rates trends downward.

 

During the first nine months of 2026, many banks ramped up capital raising through CDs.

 

According to its third-quarter 2026 financial report, Techcombank’s outstanding balance of certificates of deposit reached VNĐ186.27 trillion, up 18.2 per cent from the end of 2025.

 

Of this total, CDs issued to individual customers amounted to more than VNĐ100.45 trillion, up 7.7 per cent from the end of the previous year and accounting for approximately 53.9 per cent of the bank’s total CD balance.

 

During the same period, VPBank’s outstanding balance of CDs reached VNĐ160.91 trillion, an increase of 153.6 per cent, compared to the end of 2025. Of the total, CDs issued to individual customers saw a sharp rise of 88.7 per cent, climbing from VNĐ26.30 trillion to VNĐ49.64 trillion.

 

According to its third-quarter 2026 financial report, LPBank recorded an outstanding CD balance of VNĐ65.85 trillion as of September 30, 2026. This represented an 81.6 per cent increase from the VNĐ36.25 trillion recorded at the end of 2025.

 

At ABBank, the balance of CDs also reached VNĐ23.39 trillion by the end of September 2026, a 72 per cent increase from the VNĐ13.6 trillion recorded at the end of 2025.

 

Trương Đắc Nguyên, founder of investment firm Trương Nguyên, noted diverging interest rate trends across various deposit products.

 

While interest rates for standard savings accounts have edged downward, rates for other channels have continued to rise, signaling that banks remain driven by a need to secure capital, even at a higher cost.

 

Echoing this view, experts at SSI Research anticipated that the issuance of CDs and bonds will continue to accelerate, serving as an additional tool to help narrow the gap between credit growth and deposit mobilisation.

 

This shift indicated that banks are increasingly raising capital through longer-term instruments, which can help stabilise their funding bases and support the expansion of medium- and long-term credit.

 

However, a heavy reliance on CDs, particularly those with longer tenors, could also drive up the cost of capital if the issuance rates exceed those of conventional deposit products. — BIZHUB/VNS

 

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