Experts advise on implementing Ho Chi Minh City International Financial Center

(Dan Tri) - Vietnam is entering an important stage to develop IFC towards comprehensive digitalization, with many lessons learned from Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai.

On November 7, the forum “Promoting the Ho Chi Minh City International Financial Center - Opportunities and Challenges for Enterprises” recorded many contributions to the implementation plan of the Ho Chi Minh City International Financial Center (IFC). The event took place within the framework of the Vietnam Innovation Summit 2025.

IFC is in a favorable position

Speaking at the forum, Mr. Anirban Roy, representative of InnoLab Asia, affirmed that the International Financial Center (IFC) is an essential component of an integrated economy , where technology, finance and governance connect to create new value. Vietnam has many opportunities in the Southeast Asian region with the orientation of developing two international financial centers in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, in line with the national strategy on digital technology industry and sustainable digital finance.

Mr. Tran Huyen Dinh, Chairman of the VBA Fintech Application Committee, emphasized: “Vietnam needs to flexibly combine policy, technology and market to form a synchronous digital financial ecosystem. Ho Chi Minh City can inherit international experience to build a flexible testing mechanism, helping businesses innovate while still ensuring safe management.”

From the investment fund's perspective, Mr. Will Ross, Marketing & Distribution Director of Dragon Capital, believes that Vietnam is at a favorable time to develop IFC, when the economy maintains stable growth and the capital market is increasingly perfect.

Dragon Capital proposes to build the first digital asset ETF in Vietnam, with professional advice from VBA, based on tokenized traditional assets such as stocks and bonds - demonstrating the development potential of transparent and digital capital markets.

On the business side, Mr. Tran Huy Vu, co-founder of Kyber Network, said that IFC is not only a space for banking or investment activities, but also an opportunity for technology enterprises to participate in developing digital financial services. The success of IFC, according to him, depends on the ability to coordinate between policy, technology and enterprises in forming a transparent, effective and synchronous financial services ecosystem.

Speakers and experts at the discussion session "Opportunities and challenges for businesses at the Ho Chi Minh City International Financial Center" (Photo: Organizing Committee).

Lessons from successful IFC implementation from Hong Kong and Dubai

Sharing about the trend of asset tokenization and international experience, Mr. Dinh said that Vietnam is entering an important stage to develop the International Financial Center (IFC) in the direction of comprehensive digitalization. Lessons from Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai show that the success of an IFC does not lie in tax incentives or geographical location, but in institutional capacity, flexible legal framework and unified compliance technology system.

According to the GFCI 38 report, Ho Chi Minh City scored 664 points, ranking 95th out of 120 global financial centers - surpassing Bangkok but still far behind Hong Kong (764 points) and Singapore (762 points). The capitalization of Vietnam's stock market is estimated at about 218 billion USD, equivalent to 66% of GDP, while Hong Kong reached more than 5,000 billion USD, Singapore about 645 billion USD.

International models show that the trend of testing digital financial products is growing strongly. In Hong Kong, the “Ensemble Sandbox” allows the issuance of securities, investment funds and digital bonds on the blockchain platform. Singapore builds Project Guardian, a standardized framework for tokenizing assets according to international standards. Dubai deploys the Tokenization Regulatory Sandbox with nearly 100 businesses, with a total investment of more than 1 billion USD, focusing on digitizing real estate, bonds and commodities.

“Vietnam needs to flexibly combine policy, technology and market to form a synchronous digital financial ecosystem. Ho Chi Minh City can inherit international experience to build a flexible testing mechanism, helping businesses innovate while still ensuring safe management,” said Mr. Dinh.

Resolution No. 222/2025/QH15 of the National Assembly on building an international financial center in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang , Resolution No. 05/2025/NQ-CP of the Government on piloting the crypto asset market, are laying the institutional foundation for a new development stage of Vietnam's digital finance.

On that basis, standardizing technical standards for digital assets, applying real-time monitoring technology, and enhancing data transparency will be the conditions for forming a sustainable IFC.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/kinh-doanh/chuyen-gia-hien-ke-trien-khai-trung-tam-tai-chinh-quoc-te-tphcm-20251109175801815.htm