The 2025 Law on Science, Technology and Innovation and National Assembly Resolution No. 193/2025/QH15 also pilot special mechanisms and policies to drive breakthroughs in science and technology, innovation, and national digital transformation, establishing a legal basis for mobilising and utilising financial resources.
The banking sector has translated these policy orientations into programmes and action plans, adopted a digital transformation strategy to 2030, and reviewed regulations on digital payments, digital banking and electronic lending.
According to reports, by the end of 2025, nearly 90% of Vietnamese adults had bank accounts, while the value of cashless payments was equivalent to 28 times GDP. At many commercial banks, more than 95% of transactions were conducted through digital channels.
In the first eight months of 2026, Viet Nam recorded more than 21 billion cashless payment transactions, with a total value of nearly 261 quadrillion VND (10.1 trillion USD), up 34.56% and 13.26%, respectively, year on year. These figures show that technological innovation has become part of everyday operations, meeting the practical needs of individuals and businesses.
However, the rapid growth in transaction volumes also calls for a more systematic approach to innovation to ensure that resources are used safely and effectively. Many banks have established dedicated units and applied artificial intelligence (AI) and big data in governance, operations and product development. Going forward, efforts to connect these resources should focus on specific needs, supporting research, training and the practical application of technology in banking operations.
Statistics show that by the end of September, nearly 175 million individual customer records and almost three million institutional customer records had undergone information verification, including biometric checks. With an adequate legal basis, reliable data and appropriate connectivity mechanisms, data exploitation could facilitate the development of new products and services and improve customer experiences.
Building on this experience, further research is needed into mechanisms allowing credit institutions to connect to and access relevant data sources, subject to clear data protection responsibilities, customer consent, access controls, limits on data collection to what is necessary, and effective monitoring and traceability.
The information system for management, supervision and prevention of payment fraud risks (SIMO) has connected 147 credit institutions and payment intermediaries to facilitate data sharing. As of September 21, its service for checking potentially fraudulent accounts had issued alerts to customers on more than 5.4 million occasions. More than 1.8 million transactions had been temporarily suspended or cancelled, involving a total of over 6 trillion VND (232.18 million USD). These figures demonstrate the tangible benefits of information sharing across the system in protecting customers’ legitimate rights and interests.
Despite this progress, the legal framework governing digital assets, data sharing and financial technology still needs further refinement. Regulatory sandboxes also require more practical results to enable a comprehensive assessment of their effectiveness and potential for wider adoption. Removing obstacles must therefore go hand in hand with risk-based management, creating a safe environment in which new business models can be tested.
