Six leading Israeli fintech companies came to Vietnam to attend the “Fintech – accelerating digital transformation through AI & Automation Technologies” seminar, joining around 100 representatives from firms, banks, and insurance companies from Vietnam.

B2B meetings between Vietnamese and Israeli companies at the seminar.

The recent seminar was held in Hanoi by the Embassy of Israel Vietnam in co-operation with Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute and the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry.

Addressing the seminar, Nadav Eshcar, Ambassador of Israel to Vietnam said that Israel’s fintech is now super powerful. “There are more than 500 fintech companies in Israel offering a variety of solutions which are extremely relevant to Vietnam, particularly to the financial sector. We carefully chose only six of them to invite to Vietnam this time,” said the ambassador. He also hoped that the businesses from both sides will find chances for co-operation and benefit from them.

Meanwhile, sharing with VIR, Yaniv Tessel, head of the Economic & Trade Office under the Embassy of Israel in Vietnam, said that Israeli fintech companies are leading the world in artificial intelligence, automation, data security, and cyber security. “These issues are very important to banks, so I believe there is a huge potential for Vietnam and Israel to co-operate in fintech,” he said.

As one of the forerunners of second-generation identified authentication and onboarding automation, AU10TIX has supplied technologies for many major global players such as PayPal, Google, Visa, BBVA (bank in Spain), and Payoneer. Coming to Vietnam for the first time, this company’s sales director Shay Cohen was deeply impressed. “I find Vietnam a market with potential, with smart people who are eager to learn and adopt technologies. Vietnam is an amazing market that is moving forward,” Shay told VIR.

Meanwhile, Oded mey Raz, director of Product Marketing and Sales, Kaymera, an Israeli supplier of secure communications and identity theft prevention for bank executives and private banking, said that Israel has many solutions related to innovative banking services that Vietnam needs. “We will present our technology solutions which can help improve banking access in a secure manner,” Oded said.

Sharing with VIR about the factors helping fintech to develop, Oded affirmed, “If regulations are too tough, we cannot introduce fintech, but we also need regulations to protect us. Strong regulations that are nevertheless open for innovative technology is the thing the fintech market needs.”

As one of the keynote speakers at the event, Nguyen Thanh Binh, discipline head of Finance at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, told VIR that the fintech market in Vietnam is currently at the early stage of development and will grow quickly in the coming years. “The main drivers for the rapid growth are the emergence of new technologies that facilitate payment, lending or borrowing and financial planning; a young tech-affine population which embraces new technologies; the focus of banks on digital banking; and governmental efforts to increase financial inclusion as well as to move to a cashless society.”

According to Solidiance, an APAC-focused consultancy firm, Vietnam’s fintech market was worth $4.4 billion in 2017 and is predicted to reach $7.8 billion by 2020, which equals a 77 per cent increase over three years.

Meanwhile, the strategy of developing Vietnam's banking industry to 2025 with a vision to 2030, has also named technology as the leading solution to the development of Vietnam's banking system. Vietnamese banks need to focus on developing products and services based on modern IT platforms and develop a conducive IT infrastructure, putting the emphasis on security.

They also need to encourage a healthy competitive relationship with other banks and fintech organisations. Meanwhile, the government should create an appropriate legal environment for the development of safe and efficient fintech organisations.