On 12/8, the Governor issued Circular 23, amending Circular 30 concerning reserve requirements for credit institutions and foreign bank branches. This will take effect from 1/10.

Accordingly, credit institutions taking over struggling banks under mandatory transfer schemes will receive a 50% reduction in their reserve requirement ratio, as outlined in the approved transfer plan. Institutions involved in the management, operation, and financial support of these struggling banks will also receive the same benefit.

Reserve requirements are funds that credit institutions must deposit with the State Bank to implement national monetary policy. From 10/2025, commercial banks are required to maintain reserves equivalent to 3% of demand deposits and deposits with maturities under 12 months, and 1% of deposits with maturities of 12 months or more (for Vietnamese dong deposits). They must also maintain reserves between 1% and 8% for foreign currency deposits.

Four banks recently acquired four weaker banks under mandatory transfer schemes: Vietcombank acquired CBBank, renaming it VCBNeo digital bank; HDBank acquired DongABank, renaming it Vikki Bank digital bank; MB acquired Oceanbank, renaming it MBV digital bank; and GPBank was transferred to VPBank.

The 50% reserve requirement reduction is an incentive for banks participating in the restructuring of struggling banks, providing them with additional capital to boost lending and pursue other business activities.

Quynh Trang