Although securities trading is still relatively new in Vietnam, more users are turning to wealthtech and investment platforms, signaling growing interest in digital finance. Huy Nghiem, Founder and CEO of VNSC by Finhay (formerly Finhay), shared this trend in a conversation with The On Call Podcast by Insignia Ventures Partners, a leading Southeast Asian VC firm. He highlighted that adoption of fintech has accelerated significantly since 2020, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Back in 2017, cash dominated all transactions. Today, digital payments, including bank transfers, cards, QR codes, are the norm,” he said. “Vietnam is transforming very fast.”

Nghiem linked this transformation to a broader shift that began around 2017-2018, when conversations around the Fourth Industrial Revolution began gaining traction in Vietnam. These discussions helped create a more receptive environment for innovations like Finhay.

Founded in 2017, Finhay is a digital investment platform and personal finance app. The company partners with financial institutions to offer investment products, targeting underserved mass retail investors in Vietnam, from millennials to families in rural areas. It claims more than 2.7 million users.

Nghiem pointed out that securities trading in Vietnam is still relatively new, and only about 24 to 25 years old. Products like mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) are in their early stages of adoption, and many people still don’t fully understand what they are.

Despite this, the ongoing shift from a cash-based society to widespread use of digital payments reflects a population that’s increasingly open to modern financial tools, including stock trading, he said.

Against this backdrop, Finhay is on a mission to become Vietnam’s most comprehensive digital investment platform. In 2022, the company took a major step toward this goal by acquiring Vina Securities, becoming the first licensed digital investment platform in the country.

“Acquiring our own license has always been part of our plan,” Nghiem said. “Thien Viet Asset Management (TVS) have their own license, and so when they invested in us, we were very fortunate to leverage their license. But obviously one day we needed to having our own. That was the time that we decided to find a target company and acquire them.”

“In the next five to 10 years, we want to be the top of mind service for the audiences, especially younger audiences.”

Boosting financial markets

Since the early 1990s, the Vietnamese government has actively promoted the development of capital markets, recognizing the growing demand for investment opportunities.

These innovations, which included the introduction of government bonds in 1990, the opening of Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange in 2000, and the establishment of Vietnam’s first securities company in the same year, has allowed for the country to transition into a regional force with increasing international influence.

McKinsey expects this influence to accelerate moving forward, as the government implements financial development plans. These plans will likely focus on financial market regulation, such as ensuring that outstanding debt in Vietnam’s bond market accounts for approximately 65% of the GDP.

Last year, the government approved a stock market development strategy until 2030. The strategy aims to develop a stable, safe, healthy, efficient, sustainable and integrated stock market which serves as an important capital mobilization channel.

Key targets include increasing stock market capitalization to 100% of GDP by 2025 and 120% by 2030; expanding outstanding bonds to 47% of GDP by 2025 and 58% by 2030; growing the number of stock market accounts to 9 million by 2025 and 11 million by 2030; and elevating Vietnam’s stock market to emerging market status by 2025.

Untapped opportunities

In 2023, Vietnam’s market capitalization-to-GDP ratio was approximately 44%, according to data from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). This figure lags behind regional peers such as Singapore (121%), Thailand (101%), and Malaysia (95%), highlighting the country’s untapped potential.

However, the presence of 7.2 million trading accounts reflects a rapidly growing retail investor base and signals strong momentum for future market expansion.

The rise of wealthtech adoption in Vietnam signals a notable shift away from traditional investment preferences, which have historically favored real estate, gold, and bank savings due to cultural values emphasizing stability and tangible assets.

A 2023 Statista survey of more than 1,000 adults in Vietnam found that savings account and gold were the most popular types of investment among consumers in Vietnam.

However, in recent years, younger and more tech-savvy investors have increasingly turned to the stock market, cryptocurrencies, and digital investment platforms. In fact, around 25% of surveyed respondents in the 2023 survey reported having invested in cryptocurrencies.

Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on images by mikeygl and liefad94 via Freepik