In the afternoon of August 6, 2022, at the Government’s Office, the National Steering Committee (NSC) for Financial Inclusion organized its first meeting under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Chairman of the NSC. The meeting was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Vice Chair of the NSC, together with other members of the NSC, the Taskforce assisting the NSC, and representatives of Ha Giang, Hanoi, Nghe An, Khanh Hoa and Soc Trang.
An overview of the meeting
The meeting aimed to evaluate the implementation of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy to 2025, Vision to 2030, in order to identify the difficulties and obstacles, and provide orientations for the key tasks to be implemented in the remaining months of 2022 and in 2023.
The National Steering Committee for Financial Inclusion was established under Decision 1394/QD-TTg dated September 11, 2020 of the Prime Minister. This is an inter-ministerial institution that assists the Prime Minister in the provision of guidance and the in the coordination of activities among the Ministries, agencies and local authorities on financial inclusion, for the implementation of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy.
Developing safe and sound finance and banking system to increase people's confidence in the financial system
Speaking at the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh made high evaluation for the efforts and positive results that the Ministries, agencies and local authorities have achieved in improving the legal frameworks and developing financial products and services. The communication work has been implemented in many diversified, creative and effective forms, such as a number of good quality television programs jointly produced by the SBV and the VTV, thereby helping to raise the public awareness of financial inclusion.
In her speech at the meeting, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Hong, SBV Governor and Vice Chair of the NSC, shared about some international experience in financial inclusion. Governor Nguyen Thi Hong said that the policy of inclusive growth is the current trend in many countries around the world, as well as in various fora such as G20, APEC, ASEAN, etc. Inclusive growth must be reflected through the fact that economic growth goes in parallel with social equity and social security. In some countries, the human development index and the happiness index, not economic growth, have been selected as the targets for improvement. And in order to achieve this goal, a lot of countries have issued national strategies for financial inclusion.
Governor Nguyen Thi Hong speaks at the meeting
In Vietnam, the Government had assigned the SBV to take lead in coordinating with the Ministries and agencies to formulate the National Financial Inclusion Strategy, which specifies the perspectives, objectives, tasks and solutions to promote the access to and the use of financial products and services by all people and businesses, with a focus on those who currently have no or little access, especially people living in the rural, remote and isolated areas; the poor, low-income people, women and other disadvantaged groups. She emphasized that in order to implement financial inclusion effectively, it requires the participation of many relevant Ministries and agencies in the dissemination of financial information and in assisting the people.
The SBV Governor further shared that in order to implement the agenda on Financial Inclusion, the SBV has been coordinating with Vietnam Television (VTV) to produce and broadcast financial education programs, such as: “Holding the purse-strings”, “Smart money”, etc., in order to raise the public understanding about money and the use of banking services. These TV programs have received a lot of attention from the people. In addition, the SBV has also coordinated with Hanoi-Amsterdam High School, Vietnam National University, the Banking Academy, etc. to organize competitions themed “Correct Understanding of Money”, with a view to helping students to understand more about money, as well as to develop proper skills of saving, paying, borrowing capital, and using money efficiently.
In the coming time, the SBV would continue to coordinate with the Ministry of Education and Training to implement more programs aimed to improve the understanding about money. This will be the ground for the implementation for several years, thereby raising the public understanding about using money wisely and efficiently.
The SBV welcomes and will take into serious consideration all opinions and comments, and especially follow the directions of the Prime Minister, to effectively implement the Financial Inclusion Strategy, develop a healty finance and banking system in order to increase people's confidence in the financial system. The SBV also recognizes the role of and recommend the local authorities to develop detailed plans to encourage the people and businesses to invest in the local socio-economic development; enhancethe support mechanisms and policies, and improve the capacity and the transparency of the SMEs, and improve the operations of guarantee funds for SMEs, thereby helping them to access capital resources for their production and business operations.
The SBV Governor affirmed that in order to continue the implementation of the Strategy in a consistent and effective manner, while still ensuring the key balances, maintaining the macroeconomic stability and improving the quality of life for the people, responding to the pandemic, ensuring the social security and maintaining a high economic growth rate, all of the relevant Ministries, agencies and local authorities need to be fully and deeply aware of the significance of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy in achieving the national goals, as well as to organize for better implementation of the tasks and solutions included in the Strategy, and periodically report to the NSC for prompt guidance.
Six groups of tasks and solutions have been actively implemented by the Ministries and agencies
Speaking at the meeting, SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh, a member of the NSC, said that after more than two years since the promulgation of the Strategy, six groups of tasks and solutions specified in the Strategy have been actively implemented by the Ministries and agencies, specifically:
Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh speaks at the meeting
Firstly, the legal frameworks for achieving the financial inclusion objectives have been constantly improved. Up to now, the Ministries and agencies have formulated and submitted to the competent authorities to promulgate 1 Law, 6 Decrees, 5 Decisions, as well as many guiding circulars.
Secondly, supply organizations and distribution channels have continued to be developed. Up to now, the system of organizations providing financial products and services in the market has developed diversely, with presence in most of the cities and provinces across the country. The average number of branches and transaction offices of the commercial banks’ systems has reached 15.31 per 100,000 adults; the percentage of communes/towns with financial service points out of the total number of communes/towns nationwide (excluding Vietnam Bank for Social Policies) has reached 32.13%; the average number of ATMs per 100,000 adults has reached 27.70; the average number of POSs per 100,000 adults has reached 439.26. By end of 2021, transactions via the internet increased by 48.76% in value; transactions via smart phones rose by 87.5% in value; the transactions via QR code increased by 125%, while payment by card banks increased by 21.16% in value as compared to the figures of the same period of 2020, etc.
Thirdly, the basic financial products and services have been remarkably improved. The SBV has directed the commercial banks and the payment intermediaries to actively promote the provision of cashless payment services; Developing financial products and services for agriculture and rural production and business operations; Developing financial products and services for SMEs, cooperatives and hoousehold businesses, etc.
Fourthly, the financial infrastructure has continued to be improved and with the efficiency of use continuously increased. The SBV has continued to invest and upgrade the important payment systems, such as the interbank electronic payment system; the financial clearing and switching system; the automated clearing system for retail payment transactions (officially in operation since July 2020), etc.
Fifthly, financial education, capacity building, financial knowledge improvement and financial consumer protection have been given a lot of attention and strongly implemented. Many Ministries and agencies (such as the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Information and Communications, the SBV) have conducted training programs to improve the skills and knowledge about finance for the people and businesses, etc.
Sixthly, apart from the tasks and solutions mentioned above, a number of other solutions have been actively implemented by the Ministries and agencies. The SBV, the Ministry of Information and Communications, Vietnam Television, and the Voice of Vietnam Radio, as well as the local authorities have put a lot of efforts in the communication about the role and the meaning of financial inclusion, helping to raise the social awareness of financial inclusion. The SBV and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have promoted the cooperation with other countries and international partners; participated in the international programs and fora on financial inclusion, etc.
Speaking at the meeting, several participants confirmed that the promulgation of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy had reflected the consistent policy of the Party and the Government in promoting inclusive growth towards long-term sustainability, ensuring the harmony among economic growth, social advancement and equity, and environmental protection. The promulgation of the Strategy has helped Vietnam's financial system to further promote its role as the lifeblood of the economy, thereby contributing to promoting the socio-economic development, reducing the gap between the rich and the poor. The ultimate goal is to ensure that all people have a prosperous and happy life.
Le Hang