Singapore (VNA) – Swiss fintech startups shouldtap into opportunities in Vietnam – the country with rising demand for digitalfinancial solutions, supportive policies, and government initiatives to nurturefintech innovation, according to a new Vietnam Fintech report by SwitzerlandGlobal Enterprise (S-GE).
The report, titled "Business Opportunities in Fintech inVietnam", provides an overview of the country’s fintech sector,outlining key verticals and highlighting emerging trends arising in the marketfor Swiss fintech companies.
The report pointed out five major opportunities in themarket.
First, banks in the country are actively teaming up withfintech companies and tech providers to ramp up their digital bankingpropositions, embracing Application Programming Interface (APIs), cloudtechnology, and embedded fintech to deliver convenience, choice, and speed toVietnam’s young, digital-first consumers.
The second opportunity relates to payments. The sector iscurrently the leading vertical in the domestic fintech sector, recording thehighest number of players and attracting much of the fintech funding activity. According to Switzerland’s export and investmentpromotion agency, almost two-thirds of Vietnam’s population, or around 57.62million people, were making digital payments by January 2023, representing an11.3% year-on-year (YoY) increase.
Thirdly, Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending is another segmentthat’s growing steadily and is the second largest fintech vertical in Vietnamat the moment. The sector is offering several opportunities for Swiss fintechstartups to not only address the lending gap but also provide innovativesolutions for local P2P lenders.
The fourth opportunity relates to personal finance andinvestment, a vertical that’s benefited from the influx of new investors.Rising stock trading activity is introducing opportunities for fintech firms todevelop solutions that educate customers and assist them in managing theirfinances.
Finally, blockchain and cryptocurrency is another fintechsector that’s recorded strong traction and is expected to grow further.According to the S-GE report, the growth will be supported by the country’sinformation and communications technology (ICT) workforce which is eager toembrace blockchain technology and explore its applications.
According to Statista's global consumer survey, about 27%of the Vietnamese respondents reported using or owning cryptocurrency by 2022./.