A draft regulation put forward by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) that would limit the foreign ownership rate in the payment intermediary service sector to 49 percent was discussed at a workshop in Hanoi on December 12.

 Many banks and finance companies have proactively adopted technologies to provide digital financial services, Nguyen Hoang Minh, a senior central bank official said.

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.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has taken steps to tighten regulations over banks’ use of short-term deposits, reducing its ratio used to finance medium and long term loans from 60 per cent now to 40 per cent by September next year.

The number of non-performing loans had been on the rise among recipients under a Government directive (Decision 67/2014/ND-CP) to support Vietnamese fishermen to build or upgrade their fishing vessels.

The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) has proposed freezing the accounts of those suspected of committing the fraud.

Several local banks have reduced their interest rates in recent days, going against the banking sector’s general year-end trend of increasing rates to boost earnings.

With the Lunar New Year Festival (Tet) drawing near and demand of cash increasing, Vietnam's central bank has sounded the alarm over counterfeit money.

The Government will continue to tighten credit in the real estate industry.

Since October, Vietnamese and foreign commercial banks are no longer allowed to provide mid- and long-term foreign currency loans. 

Commercial banks are expected to lower lending interest rates after getting more support to cut input costs from the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV)’s...

Experts attributed the success in the fight against the dollarization in the economy to the central bank’s effective policies, including the zero percent dollar deposit interest rate and the foreign exchange stability.

Overseas remittances to HCM City were estimated to reach $3.45 billion in the first eight months of this year, according to the State Bank of Vietnam’s HCM City branch.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) said it will closely monitor interest rates offered by credit institutions and take measures to strictly handle violations of the law, including cutting credit growth targets.

The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) has instructed local banks to better control risks in corporate bond investment, especially bonds of real estate firms.

Vietnam is Asia’s bright spot amid trade tensions, said the latest report on Viet Nam’s economy by the United Overseas Bank Limited (UOB), which forecast the country’s economy will expand 6.7 per cent in 2019.

Banks and investment funds are racing to partner up with fintech businesses in their quest towards digitalisation.

Vietnam is experiencing a boom in mobile payments as more and more e-wallet providers have aggressively joined the market.

Some banks have recovered trillions of Vietnamese dong in bad debt by selling off assets secured with non-performing loans in the first half of 2019.

Authorities have announced a list of transactions that will have to be made via banks in some areas in a move to boost non-cash payments.