Countdown to the International Financial Center in Ho Chi Minh City's operation

Ho Chi Minh City is in the final stages of completing the final tasks to put the Vietnam International Financial Center in the city into operation in December.

The International Financial Center in Ho Chi Minh City is gradually taking shape to operate in December 2025. Not only preparing basic infrastructure and human resources, Ho Chi Minh City has signed many cooperation agreements with the world's leading financial institutions to cooperate in investment and human resource training.

Ho Chi Minh City ready to operate IFC in December

Currently, Ho Chi Minh City continues to implement the planned work on IFC construction, in which the headquarters at 8 Nguyen Hue, Saigon Ward, is speeding up the repair and renovation progress. This is the working headquarters while waiting for the completion of the construction of the facility in the new urban area of ​​Thu Thiem.

At the end of August, the 55-storey Saigon Marina financial tower at Ba Son, the first project in the IFC's construction roadmap in Ho Chi Minh City, came into operation.

Along with that, the city has developed policies to call for infrastructure investment in the 9.2-hectare core area in Thu Thiem, including headquarters for operations, management, supervision, and jurisdiction...

The city also sent experienced and qualified personnel in the financial field to study abroad to operate IFC, while cooperating with Vietnam-Germany University to train human resources to meet the demand.

At the regular October Government meeting two weeks ago, Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh said that in November, the Government will issue decrees on IFC. He asked Ho Chi Minh City to prepare the conditions for launching the center. Regarding the decrees, the Deputy Prime Minister asked Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang to participate carefully, ensuring that the decrees are issued without any problems and put into operation immediately.

Also at this meeting, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Nguyen Van Duoc said that the city has basically prepared the personnel apparatus, ready to put IFC into operation. It is expected to be announced and put into operation this December, after the National Assembly passes the Resolution and the Government issues the Decree.

The IFC space in Ho Chi Minh City has a total area of ​​nearly 900 hectares, spread across the Thu Thiem new urban area, Saigon ward, Ben Thanh ward and the Saigon river area. (Source: Ho Chi Minh City Department of Finance)

Dr. Phan Duc Hieu - Standing Member of the National Assembly's Economic and Financial Committee, said that the Resolution on establishing an international financial center in Vietnam is an important decision, approved by the National Assembly at the 9th session (held in June).

According to Mr. Hieu, IFC Vietnam has many special features, with the model of "one center, two destinations", meaning one IFC operating in two places, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, not two different centers in two places.

Ho Chi Minh City is a large-scale financial hub, strongly developing in the stock market, bonds, banking, fund management, and listing services. Da Nang focuses on financial services related to logistics, maritime, free trade, and industrial-agricultural supply chains.

IFC in Ho Chi Minh City is conveniently connected to major production areas in the Southeast, seaports, international airports... (Source: Ho Chi Minh City Department of Finance)

“As one of the people who voted to approve the establishment of IFC, I am very happy and look forward to the official operation of IFC. This is a mechanism whose biggest goal is to create a competitive investment and business institution in the region and the world, to attract investment. Attracting investment here is not only FDI, but all investors, including domestic investors,” said Dr. Phan Duc Hieu.

A year of "running" with IFC of Ho Chi Minh City

Since the beginning of the year, Ho Chi Minh City has focused on a series of solutions to develop IFC, from institutions, policies, and mobilizing resources including human resources and finance to build infrastructure and space for IFC development. Many consultation conferences and sharing of investment and operational experiences have been continuously held by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee and departments and branches.

Immediately after the closing of the 1st Ho Chi Minh City Party Congress on October 15, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Nguyen Van Duoc and a delegation from the city's departments and branches went to the US to meet, work and sign cooperation agreements with many major partners, in order to realize the project of a leading IFC in the region.

During this trip, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Finance signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Nasdaq Stock Exchange in New York.

Accordingly, Ho Chi Minh City and Nasdaq will cooperate in five key areas, including capacity development and market governance, cross-listing, sharing experience on legal frameworks and operating mechanisms, transferring financial technology, and training high-quality human resources.

The delegation of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, led by Chairman Nguyen Van Duoc, at the signing ceremony of strategic cooperation between the Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics and the New York Institute of Finance in the US, on training human resources for IFC in Ho Chi Minh City.

At the same time, Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the New York Institute of Finance to implement practical training programs on finance according to international standards, with the goal of building a team of experts, consultants and operators for IFC in Ho Chi Minh City in the future.

Mr. Hoang Vu Thanh, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Finance, said the city is actively carrying out key tasks to put IFC into operation.

Regarding the legal framework, according to Mr. Thanh, the city has participated in giving detailed comments on 8/8 Decrees guiding the establishment of IFC. Currently, 7 Decrees have been appraised, while the Decree on residence and immigration policies chaired by the Ministry of Public Security is currently collecting opinions from relevant agencies.

In addition, the city also proactively drafted the IFC Operating Regulations in coordination with Da Nang, to put into operation immediately after the legal framework is completed.

Regarding the apparatus and human resources, the Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Development Studies and the Department of Home Affairs were assigned to advise on the personnel project and organizational structure.

The Department of Construction and the Department of Planning and Architecture of the city also focused on reviewing and speeding up the preparation of facilities to serve the construction and development of IFC.

The 9.2-hectare core area in Thu Thiem includes 11 plots of land for the construction of headquarters for operations, management, supervision, and arbitration... and is in the process of investment preparation.

The Department of Science and Technology is building the IFC Vietnam website in Ho Chi Minh City, integrating membership registration and connecting with IFC in Da Nang, to promote transparency and convenience for investors...

Mr. Nguyen Van Duoc, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, affirmed that IFC in Ho Chi Minh City is not only a place where large capital flows converge, but also a driving force to promote innovation, develop high technology, improve management capacity, increase competitiveness and integration of the country.

IFC's location in Ho Chi Minh City is also an opportunity to improve the efficiency of resource allocation, expand access to capital for businesses, develop infrastructure, and affirm Vietnam's position in the global financial and trade network.

The city will try its best, and will do it successfully.

People and businesses in Ho Chi Minh City are very interested in the investment and operation roadmap of the International Financial Center.

According to the announcement, the IFC space in Ho Chi Minh City has an area of ​​about 899 hectares spread across Ben Thanh ward, Saigon ward, Thu Thiem area and 64 hectares of Saigon river area.

Ho Chi Minh City plans to initially invest about VND172,000 billion - equivalent to USD7 billion - in IFC. In the immediate future, it will prepare about VND16,000 billion to complete the core infrastructure, including 11 lots in Thu Thiem in the first phase (about 2-3 years).

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/dem-nguoc-ngay-trung-tam-tai-chinh-quoc-te-tai-tp-hcm-van-hanh-ar986017.html