How EY helped spur

greater innovation
in financial services
for greater financial
inclusivity in Vietnam
EY supported the FinTech
Challenge Vietnam in
partnership with Vietnamese
government bodies including
the State Bank of Vietnam
(SBV) and Mekong Business
Initiative (MBI). The program
attracted 141 applicants, of
which 45 were from Vietnam
and 96 were foreign applicants
from 27 different countries.
EY’s involvement is evidence
of EY’s commitments to
strengthening partnerships
between key players of the
FinTech community and expand
knowledge sharing among
stakeholders in order to foster
greater financial inclusivity.
How can we spur greater financial
innovation and build greater financial
inclusivity in Vietnam?
To realize their full potential, FinTechs in Vietnam need a stronger,
more connected ecosystem.

Vietnam has a dynamic start-up environment with many
entrepreneurs and companies engaged in sectors such as
payments and lending. The advent of FinTech in the country
can be attributed to the country’s high internet penetration
of 67% and mobile internet penetration of 64% in 2018.
However, a large percentage of the population is unbanked,
with only 31% of the population of 15 years or older had
having a bank account in 2017 according to World Bank
Global Findex, presenting a big opportunity for FinTech to fill
the void in the payments space.
Vietnam’s current FinTech landscape represents big
opportunity, as 90% of transactions are conducted in
cash and 75% of Vietnam’s 93 million people use limited
banking services, while the remaining 25% have not taken
advantage of banking services at all, which explains why 47%
of Vietnamese FinTechs are only focused in payments, the
highest concentration in the region.
With this opportunity in mind, several key Vietnamese
stakeholders have launched initiatives to foster a conducive
FinTech environment in the country.
The Vietnamese government, in January 2017, signed a
policy with the aim to significantly reduce cash transactions
and improve electronic payment methods by 2020.
Under the plan, total cash transactions would be less
than 10% of total market transactions. As part of the
Vietnamese government’s socio-economic development
plan, Resolution 01/NQ-CP, dated January 2019, also
includes the development of digital economy, in the fields
of finance, banking, health, education, agriculture, tourism,
environment and smart cities.
The FinTech Steering Committee was established by the
SBV, the country’s central bank, in March 2017 to advise
the government on FinTech ecosystem development,
help the government in the development of a regulatory
framework and to ensure growth in the industry and support
FinTech innovation.

“
FinTech companies are still small in
scale and the policies and regulations for
While initiatives had been launched to boost the FinTech
landscape, FinTech in Vietnam had not grown to its
full potential.

EY wondered how we could add value to accelerate the

these companies are still limited. Many process of building greater financial inclusivity and promote
banks are still cautious in their decision innovation in the financial services sector.
to cooperate with FinTechs.

Duong Nguyen
EY Vietnam Partner and Leader of Financial Service
Organizations and IT Advisory Services and Vice President
of the Vietnam Fintech Association (VietFinTech)1

Source:
1. https://www.vneconomictimes.com/article/banking-finance/ey-local-fintechs-hold-competitive-advantage-in-region

How EY helped spur greater innovation in financial services for greater financial inclusivity in Vietnam | 3
Developing the FinTech ecosystem through
connecting stakeholders
EY supported financial institutions in evaluating potential FinTech
partners and created an expertise sharing platform.
Spurring innovation by facilitating cooperation
The FCV, which spanned from November 2017 to May 2018,
was organized by the SBV and the MBI, and funded by
the government of Australia and the Asian Development
Bank (ADB).
The Vietnam Banks Association (VNBA) and the Vietnam
Fintech Club (VFC) are co-organizers of the program.
Program partners include seven commercial banks (BIDV,
Vietcombank, VietinBank, Shinhan Bank, TP Bank, VIB,
VP Bank) as well as conglomerate FPT, and accelerators
Vietnam Silicon Valley and VIISA.
The program aimed to spur innovation in financial services
that promote greater financial inclusion in Vietnam, focusing
on five fintech “verticals” that are critical for financial
inclusion, including e-Payments, e-KYC, Peer-to-peer
Lending, Open APIs, and Blockchain.
The program attracted 141 applicants, of which 45
were from Vietnam and 96 were foreign applicants from
27 different countries. Applications were evaluated by
program organizers, co-organizers and partners.
While the SBV, ADB, and VNBA evaluated the potential impact
on financial inclusion of each FinTech solution, corporate
and investor partners assessed each applicant based on
commercial criteria (Innovation and Relevance; Management
Capacity; and Scalability & Investment Readiness).2
EY took on the role of the advisor, supporting the partner
financial institutions in narrowing down their problem
statements and finding the right FinTechs among the
participants to solve these problems.
Source:
2. https://e.theleader.vn/fintech-challenge-vietnam-finalists-revealed-mainly-from-vietnam-2018032013120867.htm
3. https://fintech.mekongbiz.org/fintech-deep-dive-on-e-kyc-and-blockchain-held-in-ha-noi/
4 | How EY helped spur greater innovation in financial services for greater financial inclusivity in Vietnam
By equipping the financial institutions with the capability
to identify potential areas of cooperation with FinTechs as
well as to evaluate the FinTechs for cooperation, EY helped
encourage the cooperative mindset as well as facilitate the
actual cooperation itself.
Knowledge sharing for targeted ecosystem initiatives
Sponsored by EY Vietnam, the SBV and the MBI jointly
hosted the FinTech Deep Dive on April 11 and 12, 2018 in
Hanoi, which was an opportunity for regulators, financial
institutions, FinTech practitioners and other stakeholders
to share knowledge and experience, both local and
international, on e-KYC and blockchain.3
100 participants including those from the National
Assembly, various government agencies with an interest
in FinTech, the SBV’s own Fintech Steering Committee and
Working Group experts, international development agencies,
as well as local FinTechs joined in the sessions.
At the FinTech Deep Dive, Varun Mittal, EY Global Emerging
Markets FinTech Leader, provided an insight on how to
promote FinTech ecosystems as part of a national financial
sector strategy.
Other presentations include opportunities and risks in adopting
e-KYC by Arpit Ratan, Co-founder and Head of Business
Development at Signzy, SWIFT payment innovations and
distributed ledger technology by Rahul Bhargava, Director,
Payments Markets Initiatives, SWIFT APAC as well as
informative sessions on Blockchain and e-KYC business models.
The presentations and discussions provided valuable input
to the ongoing national dialogue about how best to develop
FinTech in Vietnam.
Enhancing the ecosystem for
better financial inclusion
EY’s involvement in the FCV represents continual efforts to help
enhance the FinTech ecosystem.

Out of the 141 participants, 16 finalists were chosen to
pitch their solutions to a panel of banking industry players,
financial experts and potential FinTech investors. Vietnamese
FinTech Weezi Digital, with its biometric onboarding solution,
was crowned as champion.4
Duong, who also sat on the judging panel, emphasized the
importance of cooperation between banks and FinTechs.
“FinTechs is the bridge that can helps bring banking services
closer to people, as they will help banks tap into the huge
market of people who do not have bank accounts, but do
have smartphones,” she said.
One year after the competition, 8 out of 16 FinTechs have
managed to launch their solution to the market on their own
or in collaboration with a financial institution.
EY Global Emerging Markets FinTech Leader, Varun Mittal
painted a positive picture of what the future collaborations
between FinTechs and banks could be because of the size of
the potential market.
Vietnam ranked second amongst ASEAN member states in
the number of incubators, accelerators and innovation labs
in the region, according to the ASEAN FinTech Census 2018.
With US$129 million poured into the Vietnamese FinTech
industry in 20165 and growing foreign investor interest in
Vietnamese FinTech, the future of Vietnam’s FinTech sector
appears bright.
With its extensive global network and FinTech expertise, EY
is committed to working with industry participants as well
as governments and educational institutions and ecosystem
enablers to help bring about a better FinTech ecosystem and
greater financial inclusivity in Vietnam.

“
EY helped to evaluate and select the most relevant FinTechs
for potential partnerships with FCV’s partner financial
institutions.
Considering the model of financial
inclusion which is needed in Vietnam, EY also sponsored the FinTech Deep Dive on April 11 and 12,
2018, a knowledge and experience sharing platform on
the number of potential customers that
e-KYC and Blockchain for regulators, financial institutions,
are free and untouched is so huge, the FinTech practitioners and other stakeholders.
potential is there for Vietnamese start-
ups and Vietnamese banks, the question
is who grows and by how much.

Varun Mittal
EY Global Emerging Markets FinTech Leader,

Source:
4. https://www.vir.com.vn/weezi-digital-named-as-winner-of-fintech-challenge-vietnam-59683.html
5. https://www.vir.com.vn/129-million-poured-into-fintech-indsutry-58323.html

How EY helped spur greater innovation in financial services for greater financial inclusivity in Vietnam | 5
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© 2019 EYGM Limited.

All Rights Reserved.

Varun Mittal EYG no. 002061-19Gbl

BMC Agency
Global Emerging Markets FinTech GA 1011413

Leader, Associate Partner ED None

This material has been prepared for general informational purposes only and is not intended

+65 94 450 420 to be relied upon as accounting, tax or other professional advice. Please refer to your
advisors for specific advice.
varun.mittal@sg.ey.com
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