The Vietnam’s Global Financial Inclusion (Global Findex) of Vietnam ranks 112th on 176 global countries, and ranks the 22nd on 37 developing countries in Asia. This information was shared at the international conference on “Financial education in the context of improving Financial Inclusion” held by the University of Economics Vietnam National University Hanoi (UEB-VNU) and the Vietnam Financial Literacy Network in collaboration with the Institute of Chartered Accountances of England and Wales (ICAEW) on March 23rd in Hanoi.
At the conference, Alwaleed Alatabani, Chief expert in financial sector of the World Bank (WB) Vietnam gave valuable lessons and international practices in order to draw some key policy implications for Vietnam. He also emphasising the suggested lessons for Vietnam including enhancing local factors, cultural intimacy as well as financial conditions of the people. Meanwhile, according to Prof Dr Nguyen Truc Le, Rector of UEB-VNU, financial education is considered one of the main pillars of the Financial Inclusion in many countries.
Vietnam is also one of the 25 countries that the World Bank and a group of partners prioritise the focus on financial inclusion in the Universal Financial Access (EFA) by 2020, with the target to help the two billion people who are currently not using banking services access to the formal financial system. “The limitations in financial inclusion of the majority of people have directly influenced their access to financial service and products, said Prof Dr Le.
Prof Dr Le added that Vietnam currently has many banks and companies implementing financial inclusion programmes for many different learners from students at all levels to adult consumers. However, in general, the financial education has not been consistently organised under a national strategy and on a long-term basis for the purpose of enhancing financial literacy for the community.
Dr Can Van Luc, BIDV’s Chief Economist cum Head of BIDV’s Training School said that there are some financial education programmes has been conducted in Vietnam by City Fund, HSBC, Visa, and Sacombank, etc. In addition, SBV is building a national strategy on financial education with a focus on young generations. Particularly, from September 2017, Vietnam Television (VTV) and SBV have been broadcasting financial education programme for children (via game shows) but the duration is not long.
