Tough punishments on USD deposit interest rate ceiling violation

VGP – The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) has recently ordered commercial banks to strictly comply with the ceiling on dollar deposit rates, announcing a plan to strengthen investigations and supervision and punish infringements, said an official.

May 06, 2016 3:59 PM GMT+7

Deputy Director of the SBV's Monetary Policy Department Nguyen Duc Long announced that the policy on zero-percent interest rate for deposits in USD has been applied since late September, 2015 (for organizations) and mid December, 2015 (for individuals). It aimed to prevent dollarization and stabilize the foreign exchange market in the first four months of 2016.

Credit institutions had seriously obeyed the regulation, serving to stabilizing the foreign exchange market.

However, some rumors arose about infringements of the interest rate cap. Accordingly, instead of receiving interest rates in USD, customers were consulted to deposit their money in VND and get higher interest rates. Some banks offered gifts for USD lenders.

In the coming time, the SBV would continue to instruct commercial banks to comply with the regulation; strengthen investigations; and punish infringements./.

By Kim Loan