According to the recent Vietnam Fintech Report 2020 by Fintech News Singapore, the strong development of fintech in Vietnam was driven by the rapid growth of e-commerce platforms and the Government’s efforts to accelerate digital transformation and cashless payments to cope with the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Statistics showed that electronic payments in Vietnam increased by 76 per cent with the total transaction value increasing by 124 per cent in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the same period of 2019.

The report also pointed out that the number of fintech start-up firms in Vietnam has increased nearly three fold, from 44 in 2017 to 120 in 2020.

The regulatory sandbox for fintech which is expected to be created this year, coupled with efforts to promote the use of digital financial services, are expected to accelerate the development of fintech in Vietnam in the years to come.

Read further at: https://vietnamnews.vn/economy/852872/fintech-forecast-to-be-robust-this-year-driven-by-the-creation-of-regulatory-sandbox.html

Comments by Lien Ta, Senior Education Services Manager:

Developing human resource in the field of fintech is one prerequisite for the development of this sector in Vietnam. However, there are not yet many training programmes specialised in fintech offered by Vietnamese universities. In terms of TNE, a first master of Fintech was launched by Vietnam National University (VNU) in Hanoi last August, in collaboration with a French university who has a campus in Oxford. This is a potential area for UK universities to look into and develop TNE as well as other types of partnership such as articulation, research etc. with Vietnamese universities. Vietnam has a good number of universities specialised in business, economics and finance and they can be potential partners with UK universities in this field. Moreover, finance is also one of prioritised sectors beside healthcare, green technologies and digital economy that the UK is seeking to enhance ties with Vietnam, especially as the UK and Vietnam is going to establish the Vietnam-UK bilateral free trade agreement. The UK has also been very well-known to many Vietnamese students as an ideal destination for studying banking and finance.  These are all good conditions for promoting any education collaboration between Vietnam and UK in this field.