In 2015, Saison Group spent $49 million to acquire 49 percent of shares of HDBank Finance company. For Msataka Sam Yoshida, CEO of Recof, this was an interesting affair, because he, for the first time, saw a Japanese large corporation making decisions quickly.

Japanese usually need a long time to consider investment deals before officially disbursing money. 

In 2017, Saison continued making investment in HD Bank when the bank began listing shares on the bourse.

The value of the deal is still secret, but Msataka Sam Yoshida said it was a successful deal, because Credit Saigon joined the market at the right moment.

Following Saison, in late 2017, Shinsei Group poured capital into the Military Bank’s finance company, holding 49 percent of the company’s shares.

An analyst commented that South Koreans always go more quickly than Japanese, but not in this sector. Only in early 2018 did South Korean Lotte buy Techcombank Finance and Shinhan Bank buy Prudential Finance.

“We will see more Japanese companies jump into Vietnamese market, but the investment scale will be smaller,” Yoshida said, adding that Japanese now need to make decisions quickly to grab opportunities to join the market. 

The 100-million-consumer market

Yoshida believes that the consumer market will be the new destination for Japanese investors.

In theory, cash flow from developed countries will head for the manufacturing sector in emerging economies because investors want to take full advantage of the cheap labor force in emerging countries. 

However, when the advantage no longer exists and the consumer market develops, investors will shift to target the consumer market, rather than develop new production bases.

Vietnam is a market of 100 million consumers. Nielsen’s Q1 report showed that consumers’ optimism has reached its highest level in the last decade. 

Japanese have also made big investments in the real estate sector over the last two years. Yoshida said the real estate products target consumers, not investors. 

Thailand and Korea are also eyeing Vietnam’s consumer economy. 

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