Vietnamese Banks’ Interest Expenses Rise 13.7% in Third Quarter

In the third quarter of 2026, total interest expenses at 28 Vietnamese listed or registered banks reached VND 275.189 trillion, up VND 33.179 trillion, or 13.7%, from the second quarter. Among banks that disclosed detailed data, average customer deposits rose about 4.9%, from VND 13.19 quadrillion to VND 13.84 quadrillion, while deposit interest expenses climbed nearly 14%, from VND 188.204 trillion to VND 214.481 trillion.

In the third quarter of 2026, deposit interest expenses accounted for nearly 80% of the increase in interest expenses at the 28 banks.（VietVance）

Of the VND 26.277 trillion increase in deposit interest expenses, about VND 16.276 trillion was linked to higher average funding costs and about VND 9.205 trillion to growth in deposits. The annualized average cost of customer deposits rose from 5.71% to 6.2%. The cost of raising funds through debt securities also increased: the volume of funding from this channel grew about 12.4% from the previous quarter, while interest expenses rose 19.1%.

According to Vietnam’s Statistics Office, economy-wide outstanding credit had grown 10.89% from the end of 2025 as of September 28, 2026, while funds raised by credit institutions had increased 9.78%. The gap between their growth rates narrowed from the end of June, but credit continued to grow faster. According to the State Bank of Vietnam, the average deposit rate on new transactions was 6.38% per year as of September 20, up 1.15 percentage points from the end of 2025.

Funding costs rose at 26 of the 28 banks in the third quarter, with the median increasing from 5.77% in the second quarter to 6.12%. Costs ranged from 3.31% at Vietcombank to 7.6% at Bac A Bank. The five banks with the highest shares of noninterest-bearing current account deposits had an average funding cost of about 4.6%, compared with 6.7% for the five with the lowest shares.

Funding costs rose at 26 of the 28 banks in the third quarter, with the highest rate about 2.3 times the lowest.（VietVance）

Average funding costs differed by about 2.1 percentage points between the groups of banks with the highest and lowest shares of current account deposits.（VietVance）

Some banks continued to adjust deposit rates in October, but no uniform downward trend had emerged across the sector. Because term deposits taken earlier and debt securities issued previously continue to accrue interest, banks’ average funding costs may take time to reflect any stabilization in rates on new deposits.

Source: VietVance