Building a financial center in Vietnam: Not yet a 'tiger' but still making a breakthrough

An attractive international financial center must be backed by a large consumer market and a dynamic economy.

Ho Chi Minh City is collecting comments from domestic and foreign experts for the formation of an international financial center (IFC) - Photo: QUANG DINH

"Eagles do not go to places that are too risky," Professor Dr. Le Hong Hanh - Chairman of the Vietnam International Arbitration Center - emphasized at the international conference "Legal framework for international financial centers: Foreign experience and reference for Ho Chi Minh City" held in Ho Chi Minh City on September 20.

Must have transparent and unified legal corridor

Citing experience from Dubai, Astana or Shanghai, Professor Dr. Le Hong Hanh said that the common point that creates success for international financial centers (IFC) is a transparent legal framework and effective operation.

According to him, if Vietnam wants to develop sustainably, it must clearly define the role of IFC in the overall national financial and judicial system, avoiding overlapping laws on securities, land, taxes, etc.

Stability and transparency are key to building trust. “Otherwise, even if you prepare the nest, the eagles will not come,” he warned.

Mr. Richard D. McClellan - Vice Chairman of the IFC Advisory Council Vietnam ( Da Nang ) - said that Vietnam is applying a tripartite mechanism: IFC, international courts and domestic agencies. This model both protects investors' rights and ensures transparency.

In addition to tax incentives, it is important to have a profit repatriation mechanism, divestment rights, flexible immigration policies, and fair dispute resolution mechanisms for investors and international experts.

According to him, experience from Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong all show that a transparent legal environment, along with anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regulations, is the foundation for IFC to maintain long-term attractiveness.

To do that, Vietnam, more specifically Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, needs to prepare carefully in terms of human resources, finance, and communication, starting with feasible initiatives to quickly "pick low-hanging fruit", in parallel with long-term reforms.

"Not yet a tiger" then "become a cat"

Mr. Olivier Vigna - Deputy General Director of Paris Europlace - commented that with a large population and impressive GDP growth rate, Vietnam has many advantages to develop IFC, similar to Paris - Europe's leading financial center.

However, to attract and retain capital flows, Vietnam needs to promote the insurance industry, asset management and increase liquidity for the stock market.

It is necessary to soon establish a competitive tax mechanism, and at the same time research and apply modern financial technologies such as tokenization (encoding assets into digital form for easy trading and transfer), and blockchain (block chain technology).

Not only stopping at the economy , the living environment, education and healthcare around IFC must also be attractive enough to retain international talent.

"Experts do not come alone, they bring their whole families," he emphasized.

In fact, not every aspiration to build an IFC is completely successful.

Mr. Michael Chin - a member of the board of directors of Line Man Wongnai - quoted the proverb: "I intended to draw a tiger but it turned out to be a cat", to refer to the reality when Seoul implemented IFC, despite many doubts, the results still contributed to strengthening the domestic financial market.

He believes that even if IFC in Vietnam "has not yet become a tiger", "becoming a cat" is enough to create value, help improve financial capacity and economic knowledge for people, and at the same time open a springboard for Vietnamese businesses to reach out internationally.

Instead of competing directly with Singapore or Hong Kong, Vietnam should choose to cooperate and complement each other to exploit advantages.

The Government’s Resolution 222, which has just come into effect, has opened the official legal corridor for the establishment of IFC in Vietnam. The Prime Minister has given instructions to form IFC in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang.

According to Deputy Minister of Justice Phan Chi Hieu, learning from good international experiences, especially unprecedented legal issues related to the institution, operating mechanism, organization and dispute resolution of IFC, etc., will be an important premise to build a synchronous, transparent legal framework, consistent with international practices and Vietnamese reality.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/xay-dung-trung-tam-tai-chinh-o-viet-nam-chua-thanh-ho-van-tao-duoc-dot-pha-2025092022485228.htm