Nam A Bank (NAB) Cuts Deposit Rates 0.5% and Lending Rates 1.5-2% After SBV Directive

Overview

State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Governor Phạm Đức Ấn chaired a 19 October working session at SBV headquarters at which commercial banks were directed to cut deposit rates on terms of six months or more and reduce lending rates to support businesses and double-digit economic growth. Nam A Bank (HOSE: NAB) complied the same day, cutting listed deposit rates by 0.5% per year and lending rates by 1.5-2% per year, according to CEO Trần Khải Hoàn.

Key Facts

• SBV working session held on 19 October, chaired by Governor Phạm Đức Ấn, with deputy governors, SBV department heads, the Vietnam Banks Association and the top leadership of commercial banks in attendance.
• Nam A Bank cut listed deposit rates by 0.5% per year for terms of six months or more, effective 19 October.
• Nam A Bank cut lending rates by 1.5-2% per year over the same period.
• Priority lending segments named by the bank: agriculture and rural areas, exports, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), supporting industries and high-tech businesses.
• The SBV signalled it is considering adjusting credit growth quotas and applying higher safety requirements to institutions that do not comply.
• NAB closed at VND 12,100 on 18 October 2026 on HOSE.
• The article does not disclose the dong value of the rate cuts, the affected loan book, or any net interest margin estimate.

What Happened

Speaking on the sidelines of the meeting, Trần Khải Hoàn, a board member and general director of Ngân hàng TMCP Nam Á (Nam A Bank), said the bank fully agreed with and would strictly follow the SBV’s operating direction. He said the deposit-rate reduction applies to listed rates for terms of six months or more, while the lending-rate cut of 1.5-2% per year will be paired with a deliberate tilt of credit toward production and business activity, including agriculture, rural areas, exports, SMEs, supporting industries and high-tech enterprises.

Hoàn characterised the directive as more than a rate instruction. In his words, it is an important message about market discipline, the responsibility of credit institutions and the requirement to develop a safe, healthy and sustainable banking system. He said banks have a duty to share difficulties with businesses and support growth, but argued that sustainable growth should be measured not only by credit scale or short-term profit but also by asset quality, risk-management capacity, liquidity safety and the ability to maintain stable funding. He also endorsed the SBV’s plan to review credit growth quotas and impose higher safety requirements on non-compliant institutions, calling it necessary to strengthen market discipline and push banks to improve financial capacity and use capital more efficiently rather than competing at any cost for market share.

Market Context

NAB trades on HOSE and closed at VND 12,100 on 18 October 2026, a low absolute price that places the stock among the smaller-cap listed banks. The directive lands in a sector where deposit-rate competition has been a persistent drag on funding costs, and where the SBV has repeatedly used credit-growth quotas as a supervisory lever. The coordinated response was broad: Agribank, Vietcombank, BIDV, ACB, Sacombank, LPBank and VietBank also announced lending-rate cuts on the same day, indicating a system-wide rather than bank-specific adjustment. For NAB, a mid-sized private lender, the immediate question is whether a 0.5% deposit cut is sufficient to protect net interest margin against a 1.5-2% lending-rate reduction.

Strategic Significance

The strategic read is that compliance is now the price of credit-growth allocation. By linking quota adjustments and higher safety requirements to adherence, the SBV is converting rate policy into a discipline mechanism, which favours banks with strong capital and funding bases over those that competed on price for share. Nam A Bank’s public endorsement positions it inside that framework, but the arithmetic is demanding: a 1.5-2% lending cut against a 0.5% deposit cut compresses spreads unless funding costs fall further or the credit mix shifts decisively toward the priority segments named. The bank’s emphasis on asset quality and stable funding suggests it expects the margin cost to be offset by quota certainty and better-quality loan growth rather than volume alone.

What to Watch

• NAB’s published deposit-rate schedule and any further revisions to six-month-plus terms over the coming weeks.
• SBV credit-growth quota allocations for 2026 and whether they are formally tied to rate compliance.
• NAB’s Q3 2026 results and any disclosed net interest margin trend following the 19 October cuts.
• Implementation details on the SBV’s proposed higher safety requirements for non-compliant institutions.
• Lending-rate announcements from peer banks to gauge whether the 1.5-2% reduction becomes a sector-wide floor.