Between November 8-9, 2019 in Hanoi, Fintech Vietnam Forum was held as the culmination of the 2019 Fintech Challenge Vietnam (FCV), which was organized by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) with the support from the Mekong Business Initiative (MBI), a program jointly funded by the Australian Government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Mr. Nguyen Kim Anh, Deputy Governor cum Chairman of the SBV Fintech Steering Committee, attended and presided over the event.
In his opening remarks, SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh emphasized that this is a suitable time with very favorable conditions that can help the finance and banking system of Vietnam to make a change and quickly catch up with the speed and development level of the advanced finance and banking systems in the world.
SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh delivers his opening remarks
According to Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh, over the past two years, FCV has received the participation and enthusiastic support of the Fintech community at home and abroad. Aiming to accelerate financial technology application and the industry collaboration for financial inclusion and digital banking transformation in Vietnam, FCV this year attracted 208 applications from Fintech companies of 28 countries around the world. This is evidence of a well-functioning and increasingly prestigious playground, which attracts widespread interest of the community. “Fintech Challenge Vietnam has been a useful input for the development of an enabling legal framework for Fintech ecosystem in Vietnam”, said the SBV Deputy Governor. “We will continue to gather lessons learned as the winning Fintech startups develop and prepare to deploy their solutions.”
“New technologies have opened up great potential to expand access to finance for unbanked and underserved population groups, while enhancing the efficiency and financial security in Vietnam’s fast-growing market,” said Mr. Eric Sidgwick, ADB Country Director for Vietnam. “Fintech Challenge Vietnam bodes well for financial inclusion and digital finance in Vietnam.”
In recent years, the impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) has continued to spread strongly to all sectors of the global economy. In that context, the Politburo - Vietnam Communist Party’s Central Committee, has issued Resolution No. 52-NQ/TW on a number of guidelines and policies to actively participate in the Industry 4.0, which includes a policy directly related to the digital transformation of the banking operations. The development strategy of the Vietnamese banking industry to 2025, with orientations to 2030 also determines that technology will be the leading solution to the development of Vietnam's banking system.
Recently, with the practical requirements of the society and the economy, which is currently experiencing the highest growth rate in the world, the credit institutions in Vietnam have been actively researching and applying technologies to optimize their products/services, and have initially transformed the model of operations towards digitalization with automated banking solutions and digital banking.
This year’s applications focus on big data and artificial intelligence, financial service outreach, and cybersecurity technology, which are the priorities identified by the SBV. The finalists presented their pitches before a panel of independent judges on the Demo Day on November 7, 2019. Three early-stage and three growth-stage Fintech companies won cash prizes totaling $55,000, specifically as follows:
Mature Startup Track
1st Prize – Trusting Social – Vietnam – Trusting Social uses data science and AI to provide financial services for everyone, including the underserved populations. Trusting Social currently has Asia’s largest credit scored pool.
2nd Prize – Tookitaki – Singapore – Tookitaki is a cyber-security company providing transaction monitoring and machine learning-powered regulatory compliance management for clients in the financial industry.
3rd Prize – Interloan – Vietnam – Interloan‘s P2P (Peer to Peer) lending platform provides users with solutions for salary advances and micro-investment opportunities.
SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh presents 1st prizes to Trusting Social and Kilimo Finance
Early-Stage Startup Track
1st Prize – Kilimo – Vietnam – Kilimo Finance solution allows banks to finance the agricultural sector by transforming agri-finance knowledge into attractive loan products.
2nd Prize – Staple – Singapore – Staple's cognitive technology solution can read, interpret, and extract structured data from business documents.
3rd Prize – Touchless ID – India –Touchless ID uses touchless biometrics to verify users' identities through fingerprints or photos.
First Runner-up prizes to Tookitaki and Staple of Singapore
Second Runner-up prizes to Interloan and Touchless ID
Corporate partners include TPBank, UOB, Vietcombank, VietCredit, VietinBank, and Viettel Digital Services Corporation, who are seeking technology approaches with efficient business models for joint pilot projects and commercial partnerships. Investment partners like Phoenix Holdings and VinaCapital Ventures are evaluating possible ventures with high potentials for investment. Ecosystem partners like Thinkzone, VNPay, VIISA, VSV, VietFintech may provide additional support and acceleration to the startups.
VA