Ly Ly Cao

HÀ NỘI — The banking sector is stepping up digital transformation and modernising its financial infrastructure, but access to funding remains a major obstacle for innovative businesses, particularly startups and technology firms with limited tangible assets and unstable cash flows.

The issue was highlighted at the 2026 Financial and Banking Innovation Forum, held in Hà Nội on October 4 under the theme "Unlocking Resources for Innovation". 

The event, organised by the Banking Academy and the State Agency for Technology Innovation under the Ministry of Science and Technology, brought together regulators, commercial banks, technology companies and researchers to discuss ways to channel financial resources into innovation.

State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Deputy Governor Phạm Tiến Dũng said that while the banking sector had made initial progress in innovation and digital transformation, financing for innovation remained inadequate.

Innovative startups and science and technology enterprises often rely on intangible assets, have unstable cash flows and carry high risks. Traditional credit assessment methods and collateral requirements are therefore not always suitable for their financing needs, he said.

Meanwhile, Việt Nam's capital market, particularly its venture capital segment, remains underdeveloped. 

Demand for medium- and long-term funding continues to depend heavily on bank credit, while risk-sharing mechanisms among the State, investment funds, credit institutions and investors remain insufficiently coordinated.

"These are bottlenecks that today's forum needs to address, on the consistent principle of not compromising system safety and customers' legitimate interests," Dũng said.

The forum took place as the banking industry continued implementing Resolution 57-NQ/TW on breakthroughs in science and technology, innovation and national digital transformation. 

The SBV has established a sector-wide steering committee, issued a digital transformation strategy through 2030 and reviewed regulations to facilitate digital payments, digital banking and electronic lending, alongside administrative reforms.

According to a report by the Banking Academy, cashless payments have been among the sector's most visible areas of progress. 

In the first eight months of 2026, the country recorded more than 21 billion cashless payment transactions worth nearly VNĐ261 quadrillion (US$10 trillion). Transaction volume rose 34.56 per cent year-on-year, while value increased 13.26 per cent.

The report also highlighted progress in fraud prevention and cybersecurity.

By September 21, the banking sector's SIMO system, which supports fraud monitoring and prevention, had warned of more than 5.4 million instances of potential risks. More than 1.8 million transactions had been suspended or cancelled, involving over VNĐ6 trillion.

By September 25, biometric verification had been completed for more than 174.5 million individual customer records and 2.92 million organisational records.

Commercial banks are also expanding their use of artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics and automation. 

VietinBank, for example, has deployed more than 50 AI and machine-learning initiatives, reducing credit assessment time from several days to several hours. 

At BIDV, the proportion of transactions conducted through digital channels rose to 91.2 per cent by late November 2025, while its SmartBanking X platform connected more than 2,500 services from around 1,500 partners.

However, the report noted that the results of the regulatory sandbox mechanism under Decree 94/2025/NĐ-CP remained modest after more than a year. 

Two applications involving credit scoring and data sharing through Open API had been received, processed and returned, while 13 of 16 valid peer-to-peer lending applications were still under assessment.

The forum's specialist sessions examined financing models for innovation, fintech, conversational banking, retail banking and infrastructure funding.

Among the proposals, Meey Group suggested developing a multi-layer financing structure covering research and development, seed and venture capital, growth funding, cash-flow-based innovation credit and strategic investment.

Fintech was also discussed as a means of extending formal financial services to workers and underserved groups.

Nguyễn Văn Dũng, business director of BEAM Technology Services JSC, presented the company's Flexpay wage-access platform as an example. 

The service, launched in March 2023, had more than 80 corporate partners and covered over 150,000 workers, with a reported non-performing loan ratio of approximately zero.

In the retail banking session, VietinBank outlined its shift towards customer-centred services supported by data and AI, while Proton Technology proposed conversational banking that converts natural-language instructions into secure transactions, with customers retaining final approval and authentication.

At the policy dialogue, participants discussed improving data sharing with customer consent, standardising Open API connections, clarifying responsibilities in bank-fintech partnerships and developing risk-sharing mechanisms such as credit guarantees and co-financing with investment funds.

Following the forum, the Banking Academy will work with the Ministry of Science and Technology's Agency for Innovation to consolidate the discussions into policy recommendations for the SBV's leadership and relevant agencies. — BIZHUB/VNS