Walking through Vietnam’s major cities, you can see the story of wealth creation in real time: a skyline rising, businesses scaling, families upgrading their ambitions. But the more interesting story is not just that Vietnam is getting richer—it’s how that wealth is changing, and what affluent clients now expect from the financial industry.

From HSBC’s vantage point across Asia, Vietnam stands out not only for the speed of wealth creation, but for the character of that wealth: it’s predominantly first-generation, built through entrepreneurship, property and business growth in a relatively short time. That creates a specific set of needs specifically for the Affluent - less about “how to make money” and more about how to protect, structure and grow it, while planning for children’s education, business continuity, retirement, and eventually legacy planning.

Vietnam’s wealth market: high energy, first-generation complexity

Vietnam’s affluent segment is expanding quickly. By end of 2023, Vietnam had about 19,000 US-dollar millionaires, almost double the level a decade earlier, marking one of the fastest growth rates globally. Alongside that, Vietnamese wealth is forecasted to increase 125% by 2034. These aren’t just numbers but a signal that the market is transitioning from “wealth creation” to “wealth management” at scale.

Yet, the prevailing DNA of the market remains clear:

• High financial energy, but limited time: Many affluent clients are busy building businesses and making major family decisions. They don’t want complicated product discussions. They want simple choices, clear trade-offs and a plan they can stick to.
• A preference for safety and tangibility: Bank deposits, property and gold still feel “real” and reassuring. Diversified portfolio investing across asset classes, geographies and currencies is still developing.
• A market still building advisory culture: In most mature markets, advice starts with goals, risk comfort and time horizon. A young market in wealth management, Vietnam is yet to see this concept kick in and is still led by a product first, and a plan later.

That’s the single biggest gap today: Affluent clients increasingly expect advice and long-term planning, but the market often still delivers products.

The behavioural shift: the client has moved, has the market?

Client behaviour is shifting, and fast. Vietnam’s modern affluent clients are developing global aspirations: they’re increasingly looking for professional portfolio oversight, clearer risk management, and access beyond the traditional mix of property, gold and direct equity trading.

At the same time, the biggest driver of financial decisions remains deeply human. As we have observed in Vietnam, and as behavioural finance consistently reinforces, decisions are often made emotionally first and rationalised later, particularly in a first-generation wealth market where many clients are experiencing volatility, drawdowns and market cycles for the first time.

This matters because it reframes the industry’s real challenge: the greatest threat to long-term wealth isn’t only market performance, it’s the investor’s reaction to market performance.

So, has the market responded? Partially. Capabilities and product shelves have expanded, and digital access has improved. But genuine wealth management, i.e financial planning, asset allocation discipline, and ongoing review has yet to come at scale.

Product vs solution: why the next era will be planning-led

A product answers: “What can I buy?”. A solution answers: “What will help me reach my goals, while keeping risk within my comfort zone?”.

When wealth management solutions are key to long term financial planning, the standard starting point is a structured conversation: 1/ What are your goals? 2/ What’s your time horizon? 3/ How much risk can you accept? Then the design of the portfolio starts.

While financial products in Vietnam continues to evolve, what it needs and what clients are increasingly asking for is context, customization and coaching. The market at the moment is still moving from “catalogue selling” towards this planning-led approach. And that shift is not cosmetic, it’s foundational. It’s the difference between an investor chasing returns and a family building a financial future.

That’s why, at HSBC, we anchor relationships with a Financial Planning Review, a structured, client-friendly process that covers goals, cashflows, protection, education, retirement and legacy. It creates a shared roadmap, so decisions aren’t made in the heat of headlines.

What changes behaviour: trust, education, and fit-for-purpose solutions

Vietnamese personal financial assets are projected to surpass US$600 billion, yet a significant portion still sits in deposits. In practice, clients don’t move beyond deposits because a new product appears. They would move when three forces align:

First, trust is the foundation. Clients diversify when they believe the institution is strong and transparent, advice is consistent, and risks are explained clearly, not buried in small print. Trust is built through lived experience, especially during volatile markets. Clients remember who stayed calm, communicated clearly and helped them avoid costly emotional decisions.

Second, education builds confidence, not textbooks. Education works when it answers real questions in plain language: what volatility looks like, why diversification is a safety feature, and how liquidity needs can be planned for.

Third, solutions are designed for real life. In Vietnam, what tends to work best is: simple and trackable solutions, systematic approaches rather than “all-in”, clear liquidity options, and transparent reporting.

While trust is the starting point, this accelerates when backed by customer education and solutions that actually fit clients’ needs.

Why global institutions matter

Vietnam’s wealth journey is happening quickly, while the broader ecosystem, industry standards, advisory depth, and parts of the regulatory infrastructure for advanced wealth planning, is still evolving.

This is precisely where global institutions can contribute meaningfully, because their advantage isn’t just access to products. It’s process and discipline which ensure planning-first habits even as the market evolves, global governance and risk discipline, including suitability checks, clear risk explanations, and portfolio construction frameworks, ongoing reviews rather than one-off transactions, helping clients stay disciplined through cycles, and local delivery, global standards: we adapt to Vietnam-specific goals and preferences, while applying mature-market rigor from day one.

We also believe in building the ecosystem collaboratively. That’s why we regularly host client events with our Wealth Management partners—to demystify jargon, reinforce diversification, and remind about time in the market, not timing the market.

And because many affluent Vietnamese clients are increasingly international—through education, family, property, or business interests—HSBC can act as a bridge to global diversification and cross-border best practices, acting within local rules.

Taking Vietnam’s wealth market to the next level

If Vietnam’s first chapter was about generating wealth, the next chapter is about professionalizing it. To move the market forward, five shifts matter. First, the industry’s advisory baseline needs to be raised which makes goal-based planning the norm, not a premium feature. Then transparency and suitability need to be standardised, which make clients should feel consistently protected, not only informed. Disciplined investing habits need to be built, which require regular reviews, rebalancing and long-term portfolio thinking need to become mainstream. Forthly, solution thinking beyond investment should be expanded, where affluent clients need integrated plans across protection, liquidity, education and retirement—especially when wealth is tied to business and property. And finally, ecosystem collaboration should be strengthened where banks, asset managers, insurers, and regulators each hold part of the puzzle. The market will mature faster when standards, training and responsible innovation move together.

HSBC can contribute by continuing to bring global wealth management practices into Vietnam—planning-led advice, disciplined portfolio construction, strong governance, and a long-term partnership mindset that focuses on helping clients protect, grow and pass on wealth, not simply transact.

Vietnam’s wealth story is one of momentum. The next leap will come from pairing that momentum with something equally powerful: structure. Because in the long run, the most valuable thing we can offer affluent Vietnamese families isn’t just access—it’s confidence.