Despite the economic downturn, large banks have announced excellent results for 2023 and met all the targets they set for themselves.

Up to 77.41% of the adults in Vietnam have payment accounts at present, an increase from 31% during the 2015 - 2017 period, an official of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) cited a World Bank report as saying.

A series of commercial banks changed their appearance in 2023 through new brand identification, which reflected changes in governance, technology, and shareholder structure.

On Metamask, different payment methods using e-wallets, domestic banks and VietQR have appeared, serving Vietnamese who buy cryptocurrencies.

Some banks have announced adjustments to SMS banking fees starting from the beginning of 2024 and encouraged customers to switch to digital banking apps to get notifications for free.

HÀ NỘI — Although interest rates have continued to drop sharply, firms say it is still difficult for them to access loans.

Savings interest rates have set a new record low of only 1.9 per cent per year for a 1-2 month term.

Though the asset quality of banks in Vietnam will be temporarily under control until the end of 2023, experts said more attention should be paid to the issue in 2024 as bad debts are rising.

Credit ratings agency Fitch Ratings has recently revealed upgrades for several banks, in the wake of its decision to raise Vietnam's national credit rating to BB+ with a long-term outlook of "Stable".

The Vietnamese government is intensifying oversight in the banking sector, targeting cross-ownership in credit operations and the complex issue of banks’ affiliated businesses.

The Government will conduct an inspection of credit growth management by the central bank in response to low credit growth.

The State Audit of Vietnam (SAV) has recommended the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) coordinate with agencies to urgently speed up the compulsory transfer of poor-performing banks OceanBank, GPBank, CBBank and DongA Bank.

After many years of decline, DongA Bank in 2022 had outstanding loans equal to 102 percent of the year’s plan, mobilized capital equal to 98 percent of the plan, and saw  deposits rise by 11 percent over the beginning of the year.

The selling prices of many assets that banks have foreclosed on because borrowers cannot pay debts have been lowered, but many assets remain unsold.

Transactions with a value of VNĐ400 million or more must be reported to the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) from December 1, 2023, according to a new policy.

With bond interest rates 1-2 percent higher per annum than 12-month savings interest rates, commercial banks are increasing corporate bond issuance to mobilize more long-term capital.

The major source of income for many realtors, Industrial Zone (IZ) developers, insurers and fertilizer manufacturers is interest from bank deposits, rather than from their core business fields.

The net interest margin (NIM) narrowed, while non-performing loans were increasing.

Demand for home loans remains low, although interest rates have decreased by 1-3 percentage points per year compared to the beginning of this year.

Many domestic banks have reported positive growth in profit in the third quarter and the first nine months of 2023 even amid the slow credit expansion and a downturn trend in profit of the whole banking sector.