With cash still being the main payment mode, a youthful demographic and growing smartphone penetration, Vietnam offers great opportunities for fintech developers, experts said.

A customer makes payment by QR code at a supermarket

At a press briefing in Ho Chi Minh City on October 7 to introduce the Vietnam Fintech Conference & Exhibition 2019 (VIO 2019), the experts said that financial technology has greatly disrupted the way that banks and financial institutions operate today.

According to the HCM Computer Association (HCA), around 10,000 fintech companies are operating globally, competing with banks in all fields from payment services, deposit mobilisation, lending, foreign exchange trading, and investment consulting.

Fintech companies in Vietnam currently focus on only three services: payment, peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding. Some 70 percent of fintech companies in Viet Nam are start-ups.

Dr Lillian Koh, CEO of Fintech Academy Singapore, said the infocomm and communication technology (ICT) sector is a key enabler for almost every industry, and has enhanced Singapore’s competitiveness by raising productivity and transforming business processes in industries like finance, services and manufacturing.

Fintech came as a disruptor but it is now embraced as innovation and transformation, she noted.

To help technology businesses get up-to-date on the latest global trends and technologies, HCA, Fintech Academy Singapore, the Vietnam Banking Association, and the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology of Vietnam National University HCM City plan to organise VIO 2019 in HCM City on October 30 and 31, said HCA Secretary General Vu Anh Tuan.

The event, titled ‘Shaping the future of Vietnam Fintech’, will discuss topics such as fintech and changes in technology, payment services; cybersecurity challenges for fintech; fintech and the workforce; policies and platform development for the fintech industry; machine learning and AI in the fintech marketplace; and fintech and innovative start-ups.

VIO 2019 will also feature the 2019 Top ICT Vietnam awards ceremony on October 30 to honour outstanding IT and telecom companies, products and services and an exhibition where banks, fintech and IT companies will showcase their products.