Many foreign investors are interested in investing in Vietnam’s fintech market that have huge growth potential, said Han Ngoc Vu, general director of VIB International Commercial Bank, at Fintech Summit 2019 held in Hanoi on September 25.

Vu, who is also a representative from Vietnam Silicon Valley Investment Fund (VSV), revealed that being derived from the project of developing entrepreneurial ecosystem and approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology, VSV has invested and incubated over 80 startups, including many fintech ones since 2014.

The banker quoted a report on Vietnam’s fintech growth potential released by Singaporean market research firm Solidiance as saying that the value of Vietnam’s fintech market is currently valued at US$4.4 billion and is expected to reach US$7.8 billion by 2020.

For his part, CEO of Welcome Financial Group Kil Ehong said Welcome is expanding its business in Vietnam and hopes to find the most potential fintech startups to collaborate and contribute to Vietnam financial technology enterprises’ development.

Welcome is one of the largest consumer finance companies in South Korea with total assets of US$2.9 billion, said Kil Ehong.

CEO of Welcome Financial Group Kil Ehong speaks at Fintech Summit 2019. Photo: Hung Nam

Pham Hong Quat, director of the Market and Enterprise Development Department under Ministry of Science and Technology, noted that Fintech Summit 2019 creates opportunities for fintech startups to find banking partners and negotiate directly with reputable investment funds.

Fintech Summit 2019 aims to select and match investors with excellent startups in fintech such as payment, e-commerce, finance, money transfer, credit rating, insurance, block chain, among others, Quat added.
Fintech is an attractive field, creates many opportunities for both startups and investors in recent years. In the Asia-Pacific region alone, fintech startups have attracted investment of more than US$15 billion only in 2018, Quat cited.

He emphasized that fintech startups play an important role in economic growth, especially in finance and banking and the Vietnamese government has fostered many programs, seminars and contests to connect and support the fintech startup community.

Worthy investments

The growth in number of fintech companies in Vietnam in recent years has been further spurred by the government’s policy to encourage cashless transactions.

Reports from the Vietnamese central bank showed the number of fintech companies in the country rose from 40 to almost 100 in 2016-2018.

Besides, the Vietnamese government facilitates a conductive environment for fintech to flourish. The National FinTech Steering Committee advises the government on the development of financial services ecosystem, including a legal framework to ensure market growth.

Other government bodies such as the National Technology Innovation Fund and other accelerators and incubators have also made efforts to address current difficulties to support and promote Vietnam as a tech-hub in the region.

As the country aims to move towards a cashless society, the Vietnamese government also targets to reduce cash transactions to 10% and increase bank accounts by 70% by 2020.