Governor Le Minh Hung of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) had a meeting with Executive Chairman Jack Ma of Alibaba Group in Hanoi on November 6. Attending the meeting were representatives from International Cooperation Department, Payment Department, Information Technology Department, SBV Office, National Payment Corporation of Vietnam (NAPAS) and Communication Department.
At the meeting, Governor Le Minh Hung warmly welcomed working visit of Executive Chairman Jack Ma and Alibaba Group delegation to Vietnam. He said that Jack Ma’s characteristics and the development history of Alibaba Group is typical model for startup spirit that strongly impacts young people in general and startup community in particular.
For his part, Executive Chairman Jack Ma stated that Alibaba Group is one of leading e-commerce companies providing sales service via web portals, electronic payment services, a shopping search engine and data-centric cloud computing services. Alibaba Group, which officially operated in Vietnam from 2008, is now orienting to cooperate with several Vietnamese fintech payment companies in such fields as provision of online business platforms for export businesses through the most advanced technology applications; further exploitation of online retails for individual customers; cooperation in electronic payment, QR code application; direct and indirect cooperation with several companies operating in fintech payment.
The SBV Governor highly appreciated information exchange about operations and development orientations of Alibaba Group in Vietnam. He asserted that Vietnam was a potential market with favorable business environment; therefore, there were much dynamic potentials for developing e-commerce and payment in Vietnam. At the same time, Vietnamese Government set consistent and long-term orientation to develop a non-cash economy. The Government and relevant ministries, including the SBV, are accelerating the completion of legal framework for cashless payment and e-commerce.
In this context, the SBV Governor encouraged ideas, business plans and cooperation of Alibaba Group in Vietnam, and emphasized the SBV would always support for the development of e-commerce and payment as well as the development of fintech community in Vietnam. Currently, the SBV has granted licenses to 24 non-bank institutions for providing payment intermediary services, and there are now over 40 commercial banks cooperating with those institutions to provide those services.
About electronic payment, NAPAS is the sole licensed intermediary providing financial switching and electronic clearing services for retail transactions in Vietnam, conducting the role in connection with international payment institutions and Asian Payment Network. The SBV Governor expressed his pleasure at the signing of Memorandum of Understanding between Alipay and NAPAS, and hoped that this cooperative relation would continue developing effectively in the coming time.
Le Hang