Banks are offering cheap loans for individual customers to boost lending. — Photo vietbao.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Many banks are offering cheap loans for individual customers as a way to boost lending as enterprises' capacity to absorb capital remains low, according to Government portal chinhphu.vn.

Sacombank vice chairman Nguyen Gia Dinh said that the bank's lending increased about 6 per cent in the first four months of this year, representing half of its credit growth target for the whole year. Individual lending values accounted for over half of its total outstanding loans in the period.

The bank lent significant amounts to small traders and household businesses besides stepping up financing for homebuyers, he said.

Eximbank provided financial assistance for personal consumption related to home buying and repairs, car purchases and overseas study with loans subject to an interest rate of nine per cent within the first three months, while accepting flexible mortgages including property, vehicles and savings books.

It also offered property lending programmes with an interest rate fixed at 12 per cent over two years.

At HDBank, individual lending gradually improved, although lending to enterprises still saw tough conditions. This helped the bank's credit grow 4 per cent in the first four months of the year, said the bank's deputy general director Le Thanh Trung.

The bank reserved VND1 trillion (US$47.6 million) to support individuals' consumption and production and business activities, a preferential package it plans to apply until September 20. For this programme, interest rate is zero per cent for the first month and 11.86 per cent during the next 11 months.

Banks' expenditures for individual lending were significant but for such dispersed credit, there was a big difference between deposit rates and lending rates and loans were more secure. This was why banks had accelerated this kind of credit, said Dinh.

As it represented reduced risk, this trend could possibly continue for the next few years, industry insiders said. — VNS