Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has asked banks tofurther reduce operating costs in the remaining months of the year in order tocontinue lowering interest rates to support COVID-19 affected firms andindividuals.

Under a directive released late last week, the SBV said banks must also cutsalary, bonus and profit to further reduce the net lending interest rate forboth existing and new loans, which it expected to contribute to the recovery oflocal production and business in the post-pandemic period.

As the COVID-19 pandemic remains unpredictable, banks have been also directedto promptly update official information on new developments of thepandemic to proactively formulate and apply appropriate response scenariosto ensure the banking system, especially the information technology and paymentunits, operate safely and smoothly.

Many banks have recently planned to stop recruiting and lower staff salaries tosave costs. Vietnam Prosperity Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VPBank) in thefirst half of the year cut more than 4,200 employees. VPBank’s general directorNguyen Duc Vinh said at the bank’s annual general meeting that the bank wouldstrive to restructure, cut costs and increase productivity this year.

Similarly, at Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MB), the workforce was cutfrom 15,691 to 14,969 people.

Sai Gon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank) also reduced its workforce,restructured its apparatus, and cut nearly 600 employees in the first half ofthis year to nearly 18,640.

For Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank (TPBank), after increasing thenumber of employees in the first four months of 2020, the bank said it wouldstop recruiting new employees and not increase salaries for employees thisyear. In the current difficult context, it was necessary to reduce costs andincrease productivity in order to meet the development needs.

Representative of Petrolimex Group Commercial Joint Stock Bank (PGBank) alsosaid that the bank would not recruit more staff in 2020 and would restructureits existing inefficient transaction offices.

Saigon Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB) said leaders and seniorofficials of the bank had reduced their salaries by 50 percent voluntarilyuntil the announcement of the end of the pandemic.

Since April, HCM City Development Commercial Joint Stock Bank (HDBank) has alsolowered business salary by 10-25 percent, applicable to employees with a totalsalary of 10 million VND monthly or more, to cope with the complex situation ofthe pandemic.

According to the second quarter recruitment report for middle and high-levelpersonnel in the Vietnamese market released by headhunters firm Navigos Search,banks are still in the process of reviewing operating costs, leading to thefact that recruitment demand has slowed down and has not shown signs ofresuming, particularly for the high-level personnel segment./.