With just a mobile phone, people can now carry out all kinds of transactions, from purchases and payments to personal financial management quickly and efficiently. (Photo: BBG)

The decree marks a significant step forward by regulatory authorities in embracing scientific and technological advancements in the fields of finance, credit, and payment. However, the Fintech business community is expected for even greater “unleashing” as many areas within Fintech remain unlegislated.

Digital financial services closer to the people

Recently, during the 2025 digital transformation day of the banking sector, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed hope that digital transformation among small, medium, and micro-sized enterprises, as well as more than five million household businesses, would yield positive results. Such outcomes would not only help these businesses grow but also ensure they contribute fairly to the national budget.

Nguyen Thanh Hien, CEO of Finviet Technology Joint Stock Company, shared that the platforms developed by Finviet are aimed at digitising the entire value chain, connecting production, distribution, retail, and consumption together while incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into business operations to optimise workflow. These platforms can support millions of small household businesses and grocery stores by improving operational efficiency through cost and time savings, inventory rationalisation, and consumption optimisation. With the new decree now in effect, Finviet has the opportunity to pilot new technological applications and bring safe and convenient digital financial services closer to the public. Moreover, Decree No.94 is expected to accelerate national digital transformation efforts by promoting data integration, interconnection, and sharing, thus boosting e-commerce growth.

Commenting on the matter, Nguyen Ba Diep, Vice Chairman and Co-founder of Online Mobile Services Joint Stock Company (MoMo), stressed the importance of a comprehensive, clear, and transparent legal framework, particularly regarding licensing and business conditions, for new digital financial services. Technologies such as peer-to-peer lending, open application programming interfaces (Open API), and credit scoring have already been integrated into daily life under sub-law regulations (such as circulars). Now, the full-fledged government decree provides a more solid legal basis for these digital services, especially now that financial-banking sector data has been integrated and connected with national databases, most notably the national population database.

Translating the “four pillars” into reality

While the legal framework is still catching up with the rapid pace of technological development and digital infrastructure remains insufficient to meet practical needs, the immediate and seamless implementation is not yet feasible. Nevertheless, what matters most is the growing trust among businesses and citizens in the positive outcomes of the national digital transformation effort, which contributes to the development of a digital economy, digital government, digital society, and digital citizens.

This is precisely why, despite the 15th National Assembly’s swift actions in amending, supplementing, and introducing numerous legal projects, and the government’s rollout of new decrees across various sectors, the Party and state continue to stress the urgent need to improve legal frameworks and policy mechanisms in a substantive way. These must align with both technological advancements and the rising demand for digitised services among people and businesses.

Four recent resolutions of the Party Central Committee, which are considered the “four foundational pillars”, have laid out revolutionary, breakthrough goals for scientific and technological development, innovation, national digital transformation, international integration in the new era, legal development and enforcement, and private sector growth. These are seen as essential to propelling Viet Nam forward into a prosperous, thriving future.

Only after the Party's strategic directions in these four key resolutions are institutionalised through a system of legal documents, with clear regulations, procedures, and implementation mechanisms, can businesses and citizens fully access and apply these policies. This places a heavy responsibility on the agencies tasked with drafting, reviewing, and issuing such legal documents to ensure the resulting policies effectively address real-world challenges and deliver tangible, meaningful impacts on the country's socio-economic life.