While agreeing that real estate credit can be tightened, experts warn that if the credit ‘valve’ is locked in an extreme way, the property market will stagnate, thus harming the economy.

Local credit institutions are enjoying a rise in bancassurance activities with more exclusive deals coming, according to industry insiders.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) on September 30 announced its decision to lower the benchmark interest rate as part of efforts to support the national economy amid difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even after launching a credit package worth hundreds of trillions of dong to support businesses, bad debts will still increase this year.

Total assets of credit institutions and foreign banks in Vietnam by the end of the first quarter of this year inched down 0.72 per cent to VND12.48 quadrillion (US$521.76 billion) compared with the end of last year.

Credit institutions in Viet Nam settled more than VND26.94 trillion (US$1.17 billion) of non-performing loans (NPLs) in the first quarter of this year.

The Ministry of Finance has slashed administration fees in numerous sectors to help the economy get back on its feet when the COVID-19 pandemic eases.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) on March 31 issued a directive to reduce the fees for transactions via interbank electronic payment system by 50 percent for local banks.

Credit growth of the banking system in the first two months of this year reached only 0.06 percent, slowing significantly against the 1 percent rate in the same period last year, due to impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic.

Credit institutions have so far supported more than 44,000 COVID-19 affected customers following directions from the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV), an official reported on Monday.

The State Bank of Vietnam has asked credit institutions to prepare capital sources to meet borrowing demand and provide support to customers who have been affected by the coronavirus epidemic.

The circular lists cases that credit institutions are granted a reserve requirement waiver or a lower reserve requirement ratio.

The Government has announced new regulations regarding the charter capital required by credit institutions.

The Government recently issued Decree No.86/2019/ND-CP regulating the minimum legal capital levels of foreign banks’ branches and credit institutions operating in Vietnam.

Vietnam has made considerable progress in terms of providing access to credit to become one of the top 25 global performers, according to the newly-released Doing Business Report 2020 produced by the World Bank.

Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) reported $757.59 million in consolidated profit in the first nine months of this year, surging 50.6 percent from the same time last year and reaching 85.8 percent of the yearly plan.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) said it will closely monitor interest rates offered by credit institutions and take measures to strictly handle violations of the law, including cutting credit growth targets.

Resident and non-resident foreigners in Vietnam are still permitted to make term deposits at local banks despite some banks saying they would not accept savings deposits from individual foreign customers.

 The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) will rank credit institutions and foreign bank branches operating in the country in a move to ensure the safety of the banking system and protect legitimate rights of depositors.