Individual deposits at Vietnamese banks hit record $411bn amid preference for safety

Experts said stable returns, high liquidity, and safety continue to make bank savings an attractive option amid volatility in other investment channels.

Compared with the end of January 2022, deposits held by individual customers had nearly doubled from around VND5.4 quadrillion ($205.4 billion) in just over four years.

Meanwhile, deposits held by businesses and other economic organizations stood at more than VND6.16 quadrillion ($234.3 billion), down over 0.2 percent from the end of 2025.

Total money supply, excluding valuable papers, reached nearly VND19.97 quadrillion ($759.5 billion), up 2.73 percent in the first five months of the year.

Continued preference for bank deposits

Nguyen Quang Huy, CEO of the Faculty of Finance and Banking at Nguyen Trai University in Hanoi, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) online newspaper that the continued record growth in individual deposits first reflects people's confidence in the banking system.

As the economy gradually recovers while financial markets remain volatile, banks continue to be a safe and highly liquid channel for holding assets and are subject to strict regulation.

Associate Professor Nguyen Thuong Lang of the National Economics University's School of Trade and International Economics in Hanoi agreed, saying that with deposit rates commonly around seven percent per year and some banks offering as much as nine percent, depending on the deposit amount and term, savings remain a profitable and safe option.

Meanwhile, investment channels such as gold, stocks, and real estate remain subject to volatility.

In the real estate market, investors have also become more cautious as credit for the high-end segment is being more tightly controlled while home prices remain high. This has contributed to money flowing back into banks.

“It is no longer a time when people can borrow from banks to buy real estate and expect to double their investment within one or two years. As interest rates rise, speculation will decline,” Lang said.

Huy said individual deposits are the banking system's most stable source of funding. Growth in this funding pool helps strengthen liquidity, stabilize the interest rate environment, and create conditions for expanding credit to the economy.

The continued increase in individual customers’ deposits also indicates that people's ability to save remains intact. These idle funds provide an important source of capital that banks can channel into loans for production and business.

Huy said the slight decline in business deposits should be viewed in relation to the production and business cycle.

When companies increase purchases of raw materials, invest in machinery or launch projects, their deposits may fall as funds are put into production and business activities. Therefore, the decline is not necessarily a negative signal.

However, the slight decrease from the end of last year also indicates that the recovery across sectors remains uneven, with some businesses still facing cash flow difficulties and limited capacity to absorb capital.

Huy said that going forward, the focus should be not only on mobilizing more capital but also on allocating it more efficiently to production, business, innovation, and other high-value-added sectors.

In the long term, Vietnam needs to continue maintaining macro-economic stability, controlling inflation, and improving the investment and business environment, according to Can Van Luc, a member of the National Financial and Monetary Policy Advisory Council.

“When the business environment is stable, people will be more willing to make investments. Conversely, if risks and uncertainty increase, money tends to flow into defensive assets,” Luc said.