The HCM City Economic Forum 2019 with theme “Developing HCM City into a regional and international financial centre” was held on October 18th 2019. Regarding the development of technology in finance (fintech) in Vietnam, Dr Hoang Cong Gia Khanh, director of the Banking Technology Development Research Institute under the HCM City National University, said that from more than 40 fintech companies in the end of 2016, by May 2019, Vietnam had about 154 companies operating in fintech field.
Among these 154 companies, about 60 of them are based in HCM City. The prominent representatives are MoMo (payment) and Abivin (supply chain management) both have headquarters or branches in HCM City.
The 154 companies operate in various fields such as payment, crowdfunding, blockchain, personal financial management, POS/mPOS management, lending, information comparison, etc.
As estimated, about 37 companies are operating in the field of payment and electronic wallets (e-wallet), accounting for 24 percent; followed by peer-to-peer lending (P2P) with 25 companies, accounting for 16 percent. The field of Blockchain, Crypto & Remittance) ranks the third with 22 companies, accounting for 14 percent.
Among the fintech companies operating in Vietnam at the present time, about 70 percent of them are Vietnamese startups.
Previously, the authorities said that out of the 40 P2P lending companies operating in Vietnam, 10 of them are from China, some of them from Indonesia and Singapore. According to representative of the SBV, some of those companies have been found with violations of banking and credit laws.
NextTech Group’s Chair Nguyen Hoa Binh once shared that through research and monitoring, it shows that about 60-70 companies providing P2P lending in China have flooded into Vietnam after the P2P model broke down in China.
According to the SBV, some companies have registered to do business as financial advisors and financial brokers, and self-introduced themselves as P2P Lending companies which offer services that connect investors and borrowers. However, the current law of Vietnam has no regulations on this field.
Although the number of fintech companies is booming, Dr Gia Khanh said that there are currently no large-scale domestic fintech and no preferential tax policy for angel investors and venture capital like some fintech centers in the world.
Notably, management agencies in Vietnam are often cautious and manage in their own way rather than being proactive and conversational like in other countries.
