Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Checkable deposits saw a significant quarter-on-quarterdecline as of the end of March, despite more payment accounts opened inthe first three months of this year.

Statistics of the State Bank of Vietnam showed that checkable deposits atpayment accounts of individuals totalled 476.5 trillion VND (20.5 billion USD)as of the end of March, nearly 23.2 trillion VND lower than the end of 2019, ora quarter-on-quarter drop of 4.64 percent.

This was the first drop in checkable deposits after five months of increases.This was also the biggest drop in many years. The most recent drop was in thethird quarter of 2018 which saw the checkable deposits fall by 5.3 trillion VND.

The number of payment accounts rose from more than 88.5 million at the end oflast year to more than 90.8 million as of the end of March, however.

The average balance of payment accounts posted a quarter-on-quarter drop of 7.6percent to 5.25 million VND at the end of March, after increasing consecutivelyfrom 4.76 million VND in 2018.

Statistics of 22 banks which announced Q1 financial reports also showed thatdeposits at current accounts and savings accounts (CASA), of both individualsand organisations, fell by 11 percent to 113 trillion VND.

According to the central bank, the drop in checkable deposits was partly causedby enterprises’ withdrawal of cash in the first months of this year.

Statistics showed that the deposit of economic organisations fell by more than4.8 percent, or 190 trillion VND to 3.77 quadrillion VND as of the end ofFebruary.

Deposits of individuals rose by 3.91 percent to more than 5 quadrillion VND./.