Financial infrastructure firm Tala has partnered with CIMB in a US$100 million programme to roll out digital credit services in Vietnam, marking its latest expansion in Southeast Asia following its growth in the Philippines. The partnership will see Tala and CIMB offer digital lending products to consumers with limited access to traditional credit, as gaps in formal lending persist despite high digital account usage in the country. Eligible customers will be able to apply for a flexible line of credit through Tala’s mobile application, with limits of up to VND 30 million (approximately US$1,150) and tenors of up to 61…

Pranav Seth has been appointed Chairman of Techcom General Insurance, taking up the role in January 2026. In a LinkedIn post, Seth said he plans to focus on strengthening the relationship between insurance and healthcare in Vietnam, as the country advances its digital and health technology agenda. He also said the company aims to create material impact for millions by rethinking how insurance products and services are designed and delivered. Seth said Techcom General Insurance will draw on Techcombank’s digital and data capabilities, as well as partnerships in health technology, to support this direction. He joins the insurer after serving…

Vietnamese payment provider 9Pay is piloting a stablecoin-to-QR payment gateway under the Vietnam International Financial Centers regulatory sandbox. U.S. users can make payments in Vietnam by scanning local QR codes using fintech apps, e-wallets and stablecoin applications. The company said the pilot is designed to simplify cross-border transactions. It removes currency conversion at the point of sale and routes payments through stablecoin-enabled rails integrated with Vietnam’s regulated payment infrastructure. 9Pay is one of the first ten participants in the sandbox. The framework operates under the Vietnam IFC in Danang and Ho Chi Minh City. It allows licensed domestic and foreign…

Crypto firms looking to operate in Vietnam’s pilot digital asset market will need a minimum paid-up capital of VND 10 trillion (approximately US$400 million). The requirement is set out in a decision issued by the Ministry of Finance, which outlines how licences for crypto asset trading market operators will be granted, amended or revoked. The move follows the government’s resolution on piloting the crypto asset market and places regulatory oversight with the State Securities Commission. Only Vietnamese-incorporated companies structured as limited liability companies or joint stock companies can apply. At least 65 percent of charter capital must come from institutional…

Vietnamese consumers are favoring digital channels and social commerce for their Tet shopping, leveraging e-commerce platforms, social media, and messaging apps, to discover products, gather information, and make purchases. This trend underscores the profound shift in consumer shopping habits fueled by the rise of the digital economy, according to a new consumer study by market research agency Decision Lab. Tet, Vietnam’s lunar new year, is the country’s biggest cultural and economic period in the year. While the holiday is traditionally centered on giving and togetherness, consumer behavior has evolved far beyond a mere pre-holiday shopping rush. Spending now stretches across…

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is preparing to put its international financial center (IFC) into operation, with organizational and staffing arrangements largely finalized, Saigon Giai Phong, a Vietnamese Communist Party newspaper, reported on November 22, 2025, citing HCMC People’s Committee Chairman Nguyen Van Duoc. The IFC will be located in Saigon Ward, Ben Thanh Ward, and the Thu Thiem Urban Area in An Khanh Ward, covering a total area of nearly 900 hectares. It will be equipped with high-speed Internet network covering the entire IFC venue, while the municipal Department of Science and Technology currently building an online information portal…

Vietcombank, Military Bank (MB), and Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank) remain the top three banks in Vietnam for the mass affluent and the affluent segments, ranking highest by high-value banking customers, according to a study by market research agency Decision Lab. The 2025 Decision Lab Best Future Wealth Bank Ranking, which uses the YouGov BrandIndex Score to reflect overall brand health based on impression, quality, value, satisfaction, recommendation, and reputation, identifies Vietnam’s mass affluent as those with a net personal income from VND 15 million (US$569) to VND 50 million (US$1,900) per month, or total investable assets…

VPBank, one of Vietnam’s top five private commercial banks, has completed a major upgrade of its core banking system to the latest Temenos platform, supported by Systems Limited and hosted on Red Hat OpenShift. The modernisation project, which migrated more than 18 million customer accounts and millions of loan records for its customer base of over 17 million, was completed within a single cutover window of less than 24 hours. The move transitions VPBank to a fully cloud-native environment, enhancing scalability, agility, and operational efficiency while reducing IT overheads. The upgraded system enables the bank to launch products more quickly,…

Once a cash-dominant country, Vietnam has evolved significantly over the past seven years, with digital payment methods including digital wallets, QR codes, and account-to-account (A2A) transactions becoming increasingly popular, a new report by AppotaPay, a Vietnamese payment company, says. The report, which looks at payment trends across Asia-Pacific (APAC), finds that the majority of Vietnamese consumers (59%) now prefer cashless payments, citing convenience, safety and theft prevention, as well as better financial management as key reasons. QR codes, in particular, are the favored method, with 62% of consumers using them to transact an average of 16.2 times per month. These…

Vietnam’s long-awaited digital asset trading pilot has yet to attract a single applicant, with the Ministry of Finance confirming that no companies have formally sought approval to join the program, according to The Investor Vietnam. Deputy Finance Minister Nguyen Duc Chi said several enterprises are showing interest by expanding their business scopes to include digital assets, but none have submitted official proposals. Under the government’s framework, only up to five participants will be allowed to join the pilot. He added that the ministry is finalising procedures to identify qualified applicants and issue the first licences. Chi said the government hopes…

Vietnam’s central bank is ordering banks to report every domestic transfer of VND500 million or more starting this November to tighten its anti-money laundering oversight, according to a report by The Investor Vietnam. The new rules also cover cross-border payments, requiring transactions of US$1,000 or higher to be reported to regulators. Financial institutions have until the end of December to adapt their internal systems and processes before full compliance takes effect on January 1, 2026. The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) said the new measures are designed to bring the country’s banking system in line with international standards on anti-money…

Vietnam has launched its first nationwide pilot for a regulated crypto asset market, imposing strict frameworks on issuance, trading and related services over a five-year period starting 9 September 2025. According to the Government Electronic Newspaper of Vietnam, the scheme requires all offerings, trades, payments and settlements to be conducted in Vietnamese Dong through entities licensed by the Ministry of Finance. The pilot applies to licensed service providers, issuers, and both Vietnamese and foreign investors. Issuers must be Vietnamese companies structured as limited liability or joint-stock enterprises, and crypto assets must be backed by real assets, excluding securities or fiat…

Vietnam’s VPBank is turning to China’s OneConnect to power a digital core banking system capable of handling a billion transactions a day. The new system will also be implemented at GPBank, which is wholly owned by VPBank. It is designed to cover key functions such as account opening, savings deposits, lending, payments, and customer information management. According to the companies, the platform can process up to 10,000 transactions per second and one billion transactions a day, a level of capacity they say is the first in Vietnam. The system is intended to support both individual and corporate customers nationwide with…

GIC and SoftBank Vision Fund are considering selling their stakes in VNLife in a move that could value the Vietnamese fintech at more than US$1 billion, according to Bloomberg. The two investors have appointed a financial adviser and have begun sounding out potential buyers to assess interest, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. The discussions are still preliminary, and there is no certainty a transaction will take place. Both GIC and SoftBank Vision Fund declined to comment. VNLife, founded in 2007, operates in Vietnam, Singapore, Myanmar and Cambodia. The company owns digital payments provider VNPay, known for operating one…

Payments solution provider BPC and Visa are bringing a new level of flexibility to Vietnam’s payments scene, allowing cardholders to toggle between debit, credit, installments, or rewards on a single card. The launch, supported by BPC’s SmartVista platform, is among the first Visa Flexible Credential rollouts in Vietnam. It allows financial institutions to issue cards that let consumers instantly choose how they want to pay, whether through debit, credit, Buy Now Pay Later installments such as pay-in-four, or by redeeming rewards points. The initiative is part of BPC’s wider collaboration with Visa to accelerate digital payment transformation across Asia Pacific,…

Da Nang has cleared Basal Pay, a crypto-to-fiat conversion platform developed by AlphaTrue Solutions JSC, to operate in the city’s controlled fintech sandbox, The Investor Vietnam reported. AlphaTrue, a member of the Vietnam Blockchain and Digital Asset Association, designed Basal Pay to comply with global standards. The platform incorporates the Financial Action Task Force’s Travel Rule, requires sender and recipient information for each transfer, and uses three levels of identity verification. It also automatically transmits transaction data and stores records for five years, giving regulators stronger oversight tools. Basal Pay allows crypto-to-fiat conversion in seconds, eliminating intermediary steps and aiming…

Vietnam’s e-commerce market is one of the most dynamic and fastest-growing in Southeast Asia, continuing its upward trajectory and showing signs of evolution and maturity. Key trends shaping the sector include the rapid adoption of “shoppertainment”, the surge in cross-border transactions, and tighter regulatory oversight to address fraud risks, protect consumers, and ensure fair competition. E-commerce surges driven by “shoppertainment” Sales on four e-commerce platforms in Vietnam, namely Shopee, Lazada, Tiki, and TikTok Shop, reached VND 202.3 trillion (US$7.8 billion) in H1 2025, representing a nearly 42% year-over-year (YoY) increase, according to data from Metric.vn, an e-commerce market research platform…

Vietnamese police in Phu Tho Province have charged 20 people over an alleged cryptocurrency fraud involving Paynet Coin (PAYN) that authorities say stole billions of dollars from victims in Vietnam and overseas, VnExpress reported. The group, led by Nguyen Van Ha, from Gia Lai Province, is accused of creating the token on a blockchain and promoting it through websites such as FMCPAY.com and AFF2024.com. Investors were promised monthly returns of 5–9 percent and referral rewards, a model police say mirrored a Ponzi scheme. Payouts came in PAYN tokens, which could be swapped for USDT and converted into cash. VnExpress said…

Vietnam’s Techcombank has confirmed the reappointment of Jens Lottner as CEO for a second five-year term, from 2025 to 2030. Lottner, who has over three decades of banking and finance experience, has spent two-thirds of his career in Asia, working with institutions including McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, and Siam Commercial Bank in Thailand. He first took on the role of Techcombank CEO in 2020, leading a digital transformation strategy that the bank says has helped position it among the region’s leading tech-driven financial institutions. In 2024, pre-tax profit rose 20.3% year-on-year to VND 27.5 trillion, while total operating…

Vietnam has launched NDAChain, a national blockchain platform designed to enhance the country’s digital infrastructure and data verification systems. It will serve as a core component of the National Data Center and is set to expand to local governments and universities by 2026. Developed by the National Data Association and operated by the Data Innovation and Exploitation Center under the National Data Center and Ministry of Public Security, NDAChain is intended to strengthen the reliability and security of government and private sector systems. It aims to address vulnerabilities in centralised data models, including exposure to cyberattacks, scalability limitations, and restricted…