VietNamNet Bridge – People in Hanoi have fallen into dilemma when asked to pay more money for the safekeeping services. Prior to that, banks committed to charge fee for the first six months only.

Banks say one thing and do another

Thu Ha in Dong Da district in Hanoi said she entrusted 27.4 taels of gold to a branch of ACB, located on Vo Van Dung Street. The bank required the fee of VND2 million for six months and committed not to collect fee from the seventh month.

However, several months later, a bank officer called Ha, requesting her to come to the bank to re-sign the gold safekeeping contract in accordance with the new regulation by the State Bank. The officer also informed that Ha has to pay more fees to have gold kept by the bank.

“The bank is double-tongued. It has broken the commitments,” Ha said. “I am considering withdrawing all the money from ACB when the deposits get matured, in case more changes would be made with the bank’s policy.”

Like Ha, N in Dong Da district also got angry when she was asked to pay more fees if she wants to continue using the service and she immediately withdrew all the gold from the bank, though she was reluctant to bring tens of taels of gold with herself for security reasons.

“They (ACB) told me that they only charge fees for the first six months on loyal clients. But they have broken promise,” she said.

“My son has urged me to withdraw the dong deposits from the bank as well to deposit at another bank,” she added.

An officer of Tien Phong Bank – Dong Da branch said the bank now charges VND11,000 per tael in fees for the gold safekeeping service, but for no more than 36 months. She also reminded clients that the bank may not pay exactly the gold clients left at it.

Meanwhile, an officer of Techcombank – Dong Da Branch, said the bank has halted providing the gold safekeeping service.

“We had provided the service until last June, but we have halted the service,” she said.

A banker in the south has noted that banks seem to quit the business. In general, it is very costly to build up the standard gold stores, while the fees are not high enough. Therefore, banks don’t want to keep gold for clients any more. Some banks, which have incurred the loss of trillions of dong from “playing with gold,” have been trying to give up the game.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Banks get tired of gold?

Duong Manh Huong, Director of ACB Hoang Cau branch, explained that previously, the bank could offer preferences to clients because the bank itself could determine the provisions of the contracts. However, as the State Bank has set up new regulations on the issue, ACB has to follow the regulations and ask clients to pay more fees.             

“A lot of our clients will have to sign contracts again with additional provisions. However, our bank only charges 10 percent of the current applied level, or VND2,000 per tael,” he said.

A banking expert said that banks now don’t want gold any more, which explains why they don’t treat clients well. In the past, they could sell 30-40 percent of the deposited gold for money for lending. But now, with the central bank’s new regulations, they cannot find any benefits in keeping gold any more.