50% reduction in required reserve ratio for some banks:

With the regulation of reducing the required reserve ratio by 50% from October 1, 2025 for some banks, it is forecasted that a large amount of capital of tens of thousands of billions of VND will be added to the economy.

Many experts consider this new regulation as a strategic liquidity boost, bringing dual benefits to banks and the economy ...

Customers transact at the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam. Photo: Nguyen Quang

The economy has tens of thousands of billions more

According to Circular No. 23/2025/TT-NHNN dated August 12, 2025 of the State Bank amending Circular No. 30/2019/TT-NHNN regulating the implementation of compulsory reserves of credit institutions and foreign bank branches, including the regulation that the State Bank will reduce compulsory reserves by 50% from October 1, 2025, banks that have received compulsory transfers of weak commercial banks under special control will benefit.

Specifically, joint stock commercial banks such as: Vietnam Foreign Trade Bank (Vietcombank), Military Bank (MB), Vietnam Prosperity Bank (VPBank) and Ho Chi Minh City Development Bank ( HDBank ) have been actively participating in the State Bank's program to restructure weak credit institutions and will have the conditions to add a large amount of capital to lend to businesses and individual customers.

Banking and finance experts share the view that the State Bank’s policy of reducing the required reserve ratio by 50% exclusively for credit institutions receiving compulsory transfers is a strategic liquidity boost for the four transferee banks. This is not only a preferential capital cost, but also a strategic lever, simultaneously affecting liquidity, capital cost and credit growth.

In fact, with a large deposit scale, if the required reserve is reduced by 50%, each bank can release thousands to tens of thousands of billions of VND. This source of capital will have the opportunity to supplement liquidity reserves, increase lending capacity, reduce pressure on new mobilization, thereby lowering capital costs and expanding profit margins. With this resource, banks can expand credit without increasing mobilization, thereby lending to stimulate the economy and support the restructuring of weak banks.

Previously, in October 2024, the State Bank announced the transfer of Construction Bank (CBBank) to Vietcombank and Ocean Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Oceanbank) to MBBank . Then, in January 2025, Global Petroleum Bank (GPBank) was transferred to VPBank and DongA Commercial Joint Stock Bank (DongA Bank) to HDBank. Before the transfer, these four banks had been under special control by the State Bank for many years due to the accumulation of bad debts and significant accumulated losses.

After the transfer, the banks were renamed and rebranded. DongA Bank was renamed Vikki Digital Bank Limited (Vikki Bank). CBBank became Vietnam Modern Bank Limited (VCBNeo). Ocean Bank became Vietnam Modern Bank Limited (MBV).

Double benefit

According to calculations, from October 1, 2025, 4 banks can be "untied" from capital flows of about 17,200-51,700 billion VND, depending on the actual deposit term structure.

The bank in the Big 4 group, Vietcombank, with the advantage of having the largest deposit scale in the banking system, is expected to benefit the most. Because the capital source reduced from the required reserve will support the bank to increase credit growth, flexibly regulate capital sources to government bonds or corporate loans, helping Vietcombank increase profits, ensuring capital safety standards. If based on the second quarter financial report of this bank, the scale of customer deposits reached more than 1.58 million billion VND as of June 30, 2025. Therefore, with Circular No. 23/TT-NHNN, this bank can reduce about 7,900-23,800 billion VND in required reserves.

MB is also calculated that when reducing the required reserve ratio, it will have the opportunity to bring an additional 3,900-11,700 billion VND to the economy. This source of capital will not only supplement liquidity for MB, increase capital for lending to small and medium-sized enterprise customers, but will also be a solution to support OceanBank to have a safer buffer, reducing risks in the process of consolidating the balance sheet.

Or like VPBank, the surplus capital of about 3,000-9,000 billion VND will be used to develop the retail, small and medium enterprises and consumer credit sectors, helping the bank reduce the pressure of mobilizing long-term deposits with high interest rates during the period of receiving GPBank. Meanwhile, HDBank is expected to have an additional 2,400-7,200 billion VND, from which it can diversify its customer structure from retail, aviation... to immediately absorb the released capital into high-profit sectors, creating conditions for the bank to increase its capacity to handle DongA Bank, but still maintain stable growth without sacrificing profit margins.

On the economic side, this policy contributes to supplementing liquidity, promoting stronger capital flows into production and business, reducing interest rate pressure, creating growth momentum for businesses and people. At the same time, it helps strengthen confidence in the banking system, supports the restructuring process of the entire industry, and ensures the stability and sustainability of the financial and monetary market. In other words, this is a solution that both unlocks resources for banks and creates a positive spillover effect for the economy.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/giam-50-ty-le-du-tru-bat-buoc-voi-mot-so-ngan-hang-loi-ich-kep-cho-phat-trien-kinh-te-713982.html