Vietnam needs experience shared by APEC member economies to promote financial inclusion, Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Nguyen Thi Hong has said.

Delegates at 24th APEC Finance Ministers’ Meeting in Quang Nam on October 21 

Talking to the Vietnam News Agency on the sidelines of the APEC 2017 Finance and Central Bank Deputies’ Meeting in Hoi An, the central province of Quang Nam on October 20, Hong stated that over the past year, the SBV has closely coordinated with relevant ministries and agencies, APEC member economies, and international organisations in holding numerous effective and practical activities, especially conferences and forums on different aspects of financial inclusion.

The central bank will study the APEC economies’ practices to serve the development of a national strategy on financial inclusion, she added.

According to her, the strategy should highlight the central role of customers, focusing on those who come from vulnerable groups such as the poor, people living in remote areas, women and small- and medium-sized enterprises.

While implementing the strategy, it is necessary to use financial technology (Fintech) to boost financial inclusion, especially in the context of the booming fourth Industrial Revolution, she said.

Hong also stressed the need to promote cross-border credit information exchange, saying that the building of a successful cross-border credit information exchange model will contribute to ensuring equality and transparency in investment cooperation, as well as minimising risks from unbalanced information.

[APEC 2017 Finance Ministers’ Meeting wraps up]

In an interview granted to the Vietnam New Agency at the 24th APEC Finance Ministers’ Meeting also in Quang Nam on October 21, Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung said that financial inclusion is an important content to be submitted to the upcoming APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Da Nang city in November.

As the host of APEC 2017, Vietnam has proposed and received high unanimity of APEC members on four priority themes in the financial sector, including Long-term Investment in Infrastructure, Base Erosion and Profit Shifting, Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance, and Financial Inclusion.

Participants to the meeting discussed the outcome of cooperation in long-term investment in infrastructure and adopted a policy statement on diversifying financial resources and promote the private sector’s engagement in infrastructure investment in APEC economies, he said.

Financial investment in infrastructure is an immediate as well as mid- and long-term target to serve sustainable economic development, he said, adding that the APEC Finance Ministers reached consensus on financial mechanisms and policies to attract resources from the State and other economic sectors, both at home and abroad, to infrastructure investment.

Established in 1989, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum comprises 21 economies, including Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, the US, and Vietnam.-VNA