The Vietnamese finance market has seen many investment deals by foreign investors who have poured money into startups, showing the attractiveness of the new industry.

Voice recognition technology, artificial intelligence (A.I), blockchain and big data are the major trends at startups in Vietnam in 2020.

Start-up activities are growing fast despite the slowdown of the global economy. The gap between Vietnam and the two regional leading countries, Indonesia and Singapore, has narrowed.

More Singaporean investment is expected to flow via mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the months to come in Vietnam, focusing on finance, property, and fintech.

The others are just companies following traditional business models with a bit of innovation.

Investors say they have huge amounts of capital in hands and are seeking good technology startups to disburse the money.

The Vietnamese fintech startup ecosystem is now home to more than 150 companies and brands, covering a broad range of services from digital payments and alternative finance to wealth management and blockchain.  

A recent draft decree from the State Bank of Vietnam raised eyebrows with its contents on ownership ratios for overseas groups when it comes to payment intermediary services. 

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) affirmed that regulations are in line with international commitments, which show Vietnam's management rights in the field of payment services.

The report provides a comprehensive analysis of the credit cards industry within Asia covering various aspects.

Financial technology (fintech) firms offering payment-related solutions secured the most funding in Vietnam, according to the FinTech in ASEAN: From Startup to Scale-up report. 

Ant will not control more than 50% of eMonkey, but is expected to have significant influence and provide technical expertise to the e-wallet

Local regulators are ratcheting up pressure in a bid to curb the risks from spreading financial technology by setting up a foreign ownership limit of 49 per cent.

The cooperation between banks and fintech firms is fundamentally changing the way the financial sector operates.

The growth in investment size in Vietnamese startups over the past few years makes the target of having tech unicorns right in Vietnam feasible, Chu Ngoc Anh, minister of Science and Technology stressed.

While non-cash payments are admittedly on the rise, the cash payment habit and limited development of technology infrastructure are big problems for the country’s non-cash economy, experts have said.

Vietnamese financial technology startups are quickly catching up with Singapore in attracting Southeast Asian venture capital funding, according to the Japan-based Nikkei Asian Review.

Vietnam’s fintech firms secured two of the top three largest funding deals in ASEAN in 2019.

Fintech companies could hold the key to driving last-mile adoption of digital payments and unlocking vast cash displacement opportunity in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, according to Visa, a world leader in digital payments.

Investment in fintechs has been increasing rapidly in Vietnam. Fintechs, once considered an arch enemy of banks, are cooperating closely with banks.