Vietnam’s financial sector is undergoing its most significant structural opening in three decades. Three simultaneous reforms, a higher foreign ownership ceiling in Vietnamese banks, the launch of the Vietnam International Financial Centre, and confirmed FTSE Emerging Market reclassification, have converged in a single twelve-month window. For Taiwanese investors, already the fourth-largest source of foreign direct investment in Vietnam with USD 39.5 billion in total registered capital, the opportunity to access the financial sector represents the most consequential expansion available in the bilateral relationship. The key question is not whether to enter. It is whether to move before the window narrows.
Three Key Reforms That Open Vietnam’s Financial Sector to Foreign Access
Decree 69/2025: Vietnam Raises the Foreign Ownership Rate in Vietnamese Banks
For decades, the defining constraint on foreign participation in Vietnamese banks was a 30 per cent aggregate ownership cap. Decree 69/2025/ND-CP, effective 19 May 2025, increases that ceiling to 49 per cent for joint-stock banks undergoing mandatory restructuring, a change that increases the strategic ownership rate available to non-Vietnamese institutions by more than half.
The decree applies to acquiring banks involved in the State Bank of Vietnam’s restructuring programme, including MB Bank, HDBank, and VPBank. A single foreign institution may hold up to 15 per cent under general rules, while a strategic foreign investor may access up to 20 per cent. These ownership rates include a key distinction: under the previous regulation, no non-Vietnamese institution could hold a strategic block in a local bank without triggering the aggregate cap. Decree 69 removes that barrier for eligible restructuring banks and signals a shift in policy toward actively encouraging foreign bank ownership as a tool for Vietnamese financial stability improvement.
The government has been explicit that this increase is designed as a pilot. If higher non-Vietnamese ownership demonstrably improves governance, capital adequacy, loan quality, and digital transaction capabilities in restructuring banks, the framework will expand sector-wide. For Taiwanese institutions, first-mover positioning at current ownership rates is substantially more valuable than entry after a broader sector liberalisation increases competition for available stakes.
The Role of Vietnam’s International Financial Centre: Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang
Vietnam’s International Financial Centre (VIFC) defines the institutional infrastructure within which the next phase of financial sector growth will occur. Inaugurated across two cities, Da Nang on 9 January 2026 and Ho Chi Minh City on 11 February 2026, the VIFC operates under a distinct regulatory and currency framework designed to streamline cross-border transaction flows and attract global financial institutions, fund managers, and fintech operators.
Ho Chi Minh City’s hub focuses on capital markets, bank services, fund management, and global capital connectivity. Da Nang’s hub is designed for fintech, wealth management, insurtech, and green finance innovation. Circular 72/2025/TT-NHNN establishes a foreign exchange and currency framework specifically for VIFC operations, replacing ex ante licensing with ex post supervision, a regulation change that significantly reduces transaction friction for non-Vietnamese institutions processing cross-border capital.
Founding VIFC members include MB Bank, TPBank, SHB, VinaCapital, and Nasdaq. For Taiwanese fund managers, wealth management firms, and financial technology companies, the VIFC provides the most accessible regulation-compliant entry point into Vietnam’s financial industry that has existed since Doi Moi reforms began.
FTSE Emerging Market Upgrade: Foreign Direct Investment and the September 2026 Catalyst
Vietnam’s FTSE Emerging Market reclassification, confirmed and effective September 2026, is the third pillar, and arguably the most time-sensitive catalyst for Taiwanese investors. Analysts estimate that index inclusion will drive between USD 5 billion and USD 8 billion in foreign portfolio inflows as global emerging market funds adjust benchmark allocations to include Vietnamese equities.
Vietnamese banks represent approximately 40 per cent of the total stock market capitalisation, which has reached USD 350 billion, around 70–75 per cent of national GDP. FTSE-driven inflows will therefore disproportionately increase transaction volumes and valuation multiples in the banking segment. For Taiwanese investors with existing Vietnam equity positions, the reclassification is a near-term catalyst. For those without exposure, it creates urgency: the window to access pre-inclusion valuations is closing.
Vietnam’s Banking System: The Key Entry Point for Taiwanese Investors
Vietnam’s banking system metrics are compelling by any ASEAN standard. System-wide lending increased 19 per cent year-on-year in 2025, the fastest growth rate in five years, driven by rising consumer loan demand, SME credit expansion, and infrastructure project financing. Non-performing loan rates remain manageable, and Vietnamese bank return on equity of 18 per cent places the sector among the most attractive risk-return profiles in the region.
Vietnamese banks are also undergoing a digital transformation that increases the strategic value of Taiwanese technology partnerships. Digital transactions now account for 98 per cent of total transaction volume at leading Vietnamese commercial banks, up from under 60 per cent in 2021. Non-bank payment platforms, mobile lending, and digital currency pilots are all expanding rapidly. A Taiwanese bank or financial institution that can provide core banking system upgrades, risk management technology, or payment infrastructure in addition to capital is a substantially more attractive partner than a purely financial investor.
Loan Growth, Transaction Rate, and the Non-Performing Loan Picture in Vietnamese Banks
The loan portfolio composition of Vietnamese banks has shifted considerably. Consumer loans, including mortgage loans, personal credit loans, and small-business loans, now represent a larger share of total lending than at any point in Vietnamese banking history. The retail lending rate at leading Vietnamese banks ranges from 7 to 10 per cent, generating strong net interest margin even as the State Bank of Vietnam has maintained an accommodative monetary policy rate to support economic growth.
Non-performing loan management is a key dimension of the Decree 69 restructuring logic. MB Bank, HDBank, and VPBank were selected as acquiring banks partly because their balance sheets, loan quality, and capital adequacy ratios position them to absorb and resolve weaker institutions, but they benefit from a higher foreign ownership rate to access the international capital and governance expertise that makes the resolution process credible to creditors and regulators. For a Taiwanese bank evaluating Vietnam entry, this includes a unique opportunity: to increase its strategic role in Vietnamese financial stability improvement, not merely to access yield.
The Role of Joint Ventures in Providing Taiwanese Capital Access to Vietnamese Bank Equity
Taiwan’s most established template for Vietnamese bank entry is the joint-venture model. Indovina Bank, Vietnam’s first joint-venture bank, established in 1990 via a 50/50 partnership between VietinBank and Cathay United Bank, demonstrates that Taiwanese financial institutions can build durable, profitable positions in Vietnamese banking through domestic partner structures that provide regulatory access, local distribution, and an existing customer base.
The joint-venture model provides Taiwanese institutions with a non-threatening regulatory profile, Vietnamese regulators are familiar with and supportive of the template, while allowing the Taiwanese partner to access loan origination economics, transaction fee income, and trade finance flows across the Vietnam-Taiwan bilateral corridor. Non-bank joint ventures in insurance, asset management, and financial technology are also viable under the VIFC framework and include a more streamlined approval process than full bank licence applications.
Payments, Currency, and Capital Markets: Vietnam’s Broader Financial Opportunity
Vietnam’s financial opportunity extends well beyond bank equity. The country’s payment infrastructure is expanding rapidly, digital payment transaction volume increased 119 per cent from 2021 to 2024, and non-cash payment adoption is accelerating across both retail and corporate segments. For Taiwanese payment technology and financial infrastructure firms, this rate of growth creates commercial opportunities that do not require a bank licence or equity stake.
Vietnam’s capital market includes an estimated USD 3–5 billion IPO pipeline for 2026–2027, covering technology, logistics, and consumer sector listings. Vietnamese private equity reached a record USD 4 billion in 2025 across institutional deals. The Da Nang VIFC hub specifically targets green finance, offering Taiwanese ESG-focused funds access to a developing sustainable finance market backed by government regulation and international development finance commitments. Trade agreement access under CPTPP, EVFTA, and RCEP further increases the economic growth rationale for Taiwanese investors seeking Vietnam financial sector exposure as a complement to existing manufacturing FDI.
How Taiwanese Institutions Can Access Vietnam’s Economic Growth Now
The convergence of Decree 69, the VIFC, and FTSE reclassification creates a narrow entry window that will not remain open indefinitely. Global financial institutions, European banks, Japanese financial groups, and South Korean institutions, are already evaluating Vietnam. The advantage Taiwanese capital holds is not size. It is the depth of the existing relationship built across 35 years of bilateral investment, the familiarity of Vietnamese regulators with Taiwanese business structures, and the direct commercial linkages, in trade finance, supply chain payment flows, and corporate banking, that Taiwanese institutions can bring to Vietnamese bank partnerships immediately.
Vietnamese bank partners are not looking for passive capital. They are looking for institutions that can increase transaction capabilities, improve risk regulation systems, and access international loan and trade finance markets. That is precisely what Taiwanese financial institutions are positioned to provide.
Contact Viettonkin for further consulting on Vietnam financial sector entry, Decree 69 ownership structuring, VIFC registration, joint-venture frameworks, and capital market positioning for Taiwanese financial institutions.
