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The level of depositors' awareness of deposit insurance policy
The Deposit Insurance Development Strategy to 2025, with an orientation to 2030, plays a pivotal role in raising public awareness of deposit insurance. It aims to protect depositors better and contribute to the stability of the financial and banking system. The Strategy sets specific targets, including the understanding of the core contents of the deposit insurance policy by 45% and 55% of depositors by 2025 and 2030, respectively.
On that basis, in 2023, the DIV surveyed nearly 2,000 depositors in 6 provinces and cities representing Vietnam's economic regions, including Phu Tho, Hanoi, Nghe An, Da Nang, Lam Dong, and Can Tho. The survey results show some noteworthy contents:
In Vietnam, the depositors' awareness of the deposit insurance policy is relatively good but inconsistent
Depositors, especially small depositors in rural and remote areas, have been the target audience for the DIV's communication activities in recent years. As they need more access to information about banking and deposit insurance, they are vulnerable to negative news about banking activities.
According to the survey results, 37.4% of depositors generally have a good understanding of deposit insurance contents, namely the objectives of deposit insurance, the rights and obligations of depositors, and some relevant concepts. Of which, the awareness of the deposit insurance objectives is the highest, as the percentage of participants with correct answers accounts for 62.3%. Meanwhile, there is still a significant number of depositors who do not grasp any information at all (14%), including those who do not know about the objectives, rights obligations, or concepts (17 to 23%) or do not fully get this information (18 to 37%).
There is a need to supplement depositors' awareness of specific deposit insurance contents. For instance, knowledge about insured depositors, the deposit insurance premium payer, types of insured deposits, the time to reimbursement, the coverage limit, and the insured institutions can significantly enhance depositors' understanding and trust.
Depositors' awareness differs by demographic factors, income, and residency.
Depositors' general awareness of deposit insurance does not vary significantly by gender. Still, female-specific awareness is higher than male awareness of many topics, such as insured objects, the nature, and mission of the deposit insurer, insured institutions, and types of insured deposits.
By age, the general awareness among the young group (30 years old and under) is significantly higher than that of the over-60-year-old group. Young people have better access to information, so they have correct awareness of many specific contents such as insured institution, reimbursement period, coverage limit, types of insured deposits, images (especially the website) of DIV, nature and mission of DIV, etc. In terms of specific content, among older age groups, the 61 years and older people have a higher rate of correct answers about the deposit insurer.
Education plays a significant role in shaping depositors' awareness of deposit insurance. The higher the education level of depositors, the better their awareness of deposit insurance, and vice versa. However, it is important to note that even people with higher education levels may still need to understand some specific content, which implies the importance of continuous learning and staying informed about deposit insurance.
By residency, the general awareness of rural and urban depositors is similar. Still, the awareness levels of some specific contents are different, with urban depositors having better awareness than rural depositors.
Depositors' information needs on deposit insurance policy.
Less than 50% of depositors actively seek information related to deposit insurance at credit institutions. According to the statistics of the information channels used by depositors to learn about deposit insurance policies, among the 12 information channels surveyed, the most chosen ones are Television, Credit Institution Officers; Friends/Acquaintances, Social Networks, Electronic Newspapers, and Websites of the DIV. The website of the DIV is ranked equivalent to the Electronic Newspaper channel and higher than channels such as the Print Newspaper, the DIV's media events, the websites of the credit institutions, leaflets, and outdoor advertising.
The depositors with monthly incomes of less than 5 million VND and 5 to 10 million VND are less interested in deposit insurance policies than those with monthly incomes over 10 million VND. There is no difference in the level of interest in deposit insurance policies between the monthly income group under 5 million VND and the monthly income group from 5 to 10 million VND.
There is a clear relationship between the awareness, behavior, and trust of depositors in credit institutions and deposit insurance policies. Those who are aware of deposit insurance tend to have higher confidence in it. Their faith is further reinforced when they receive official information from credit institutions and authorities, which implies the importance of awareness in building trust.
Those who know about deposit insurance have a higher trust in deposit insurance than those who have never heard of deposit insurance. Those who have trust in deposit insurance and credit institutions are those who calmly follow official information from credit institutions and authorities. At the same time, they are not too worried about their deposits at these institutions. So, it is necessary to increase the trust of the public and depositors at credit institutions, which contributes significantly to creating safety and stability for the credit institution and financial banking system.
Synchronizing solutions to enhance depositors' awareness of deposit insurance policy
Based on the Deposit Insurance Development Strategy and the current level of depositors' awareness, the DIV has issued a Project on Communication of deposit insurance policy to 2025, with orientation to 2030, which sets out the general objective to raise public awareness to protect depositors and contribute to the stability of the financial and banking system. At the same time, the Project also sets specific targets, including the level of awareness (41%, 45%, and 55% of depositors grasp the core contents of the deposit insurance policy in 2024, 2025, and 2030 respectively); disseminating the amendment of the Law on Deposit Insurance; implementing the Deposit Insurance Development Strategy; and communication objectives associated with the operations of the DIV.
The core contents of the deposit insurance policy include the scope of insured deposits, recognition of insured institutions, deposit insurance premium, coverage limit, reimbursement to depositors, and the deposit insurer. In addition, general issues of deposit insurance policy are also disseminated to the public to a reasonable extent according to each period and level of awareness of each public audience.
Regarding communication tools, deposit insurance policy dissemination needs to be implemented regularly and periodically through mass media channels suitable for the target audience. In addition, attention should be paid to financial education for depositors to raise their awareness of deposit insurance.
On the other hand, it is necessary to deploy a number of solutions and strategic actions, focusing on applying modern solutions and digital tools to communicate in accordance with the public's information needs. The new tools can be mentioned, such as social networks (Facebook, Zalo, Youtube), in a reasonable manner. DIV needs to grasp negative information timely (if any) to correct and explain so that the DIV can have an official voice to maintain the trust of depositors, communicate through the local loudspeaker system, coordinate with the Central Vietnam Farmers' Union, the Vietnam Women's Union; strengthen the communication to officials of insured institutions.
In addition, to promote depositors' awareness of deposit insurance, a strong and comprehensive effort is needed not only from the DIV but also from relevant agencies. Therefore, it is necessary to build an effective coordination mechanism between the DIV and relevant agencies such as the State Bank of Vietnam, the National Financial Supervisory Commission, the Ministry of Finance, and insured institutions such as commercial banks, People's Credit Funds to create trust for depositors in the entire financial and banking system.
Deposit insurance is always associated with banking activities - a sensitive field that faces many risks, so communication of deposit insurance policy also requires sophistication and sensibility because each piece of provided information can affect the psychology of depositors, in particular, the public and the entire banking system and market in general. DIV should carry out the communication on deposit insurance policy systematically and methodically. DIV will strengthen communication with orientation and consistency from the headquarters to regional branches. On the other hand, DIV will coordinate with relevant agencies to reach a large number of audience.
Communication Department
