A credit school nestled deep in the forest.

Amidst the flames of war, the banking sector not only fulfilled its role in allocating and ensuring the flow of funds to the battlefield, but also directly organized credit activities and trained cadres right in the liberated zones. From "schools" deep in the forests to loans to "keep the people," a unique financial system was formed and operated effectively, providing a stable foundation for the liberated zones and preparing for the takeover of the economy after national reunification.

This photograph, reconstructed from archival photos of the R-C32 Banking and Credit Department, depicts a scene from a meeting at the Central Economic and Financial Vocational School of the Southern Region during the period after the takeover of the former regime's National Administration Institute in Ho Chi Minh City.

During the war against the US, the urgent need for support for the South in general, and for financial and monetary resources in particular, to serve the battlefield grew increasingly large. In 1968, at the request of the Central Committee of the Southern Region, the Central Party Committee directed the deployment of personnel with expertise in finance and currency to the battlefield. Accordingly, the State Bank of Vietnam sent a delegation of personnel to support the South, codenamed Delegation B68.

After accompanying the 559th Brigade of the Ministry of National Defense to the battlefield areas of Zone B (from south of the Ben Hai River, Quang Tri province southward), many banking officials were "released" there to coordinate with local officials in each locality, forming Treasuries and operating within the Economic and Financial Committee, directly led and assigned tasks by the provincial Party committee of the liberated zone. The officials who went to the Central Committee of the Southern Region were combined with local officials (formerly B-34/153) to establish Treasury R. From 1972, Treasury R officially changed its name to the R Banking and Credit Committee, unit designation C32 – directly under the Economic and Financial Committee of the Central Committee of the Southern Region (D270/N2683).

C3.2 receives a convoy of vehicles transporting goods and money from the North.

Lending to "keep the population" in liberated areas.

According to documents from Mr. Tran Quang Dung, Deputy Commander of C32, and officers in the Liaison Committee of Group B68, and the R Credit and Banking Committee, in addition to assigned responsibilities such as receiving, transporting, storing, processing, and distributing various types of currency to units in the B2 battlefield as ordered by the Central Committee of the Southern Region, they also undertook other particularly important tasks: implementing credit work and providing financial and banking training in liberated areas.

From 1969, the Regional Treasury organization was formed and organized according to a four-tiered vertical system from the Region to the District, Province, and County levels. From 1972 onwards, the R Banking and Credit Department simultaneously performed two tasks: managing the Treasury, disbursing budget funds, and implementing several banking operations such as transfer payments and loans for production. A credit department was formed within the C32 organization with a staff of 10 officers and soldiers, tasked with developing lending regulations for local areas to refer to. The main source of loan capital was budget funds provided by the Central Government.

According to officials who worked at the C32 Credit and Banking Department in the early stages, lending activities mainly served self-sufficient production and improved living standards for agencies and units in the battlefield. However, from 1973 onwards, as the liberated areas expanded, the Central Committee directed the Central Economic and Financial Department of the Southern Region to concentrate financial resources to both consolidate the liberated areas and serve the task of "winning over" and "keeping" the population. Accordingly, lending activities expanded more strongly, spreading to areas still under enemy control, including overseas Vietnamese returning from Cambodia to live and work along the border of Binh Phuoc and Tay Ninh provinces and some other areas.

Records from the C32 Credit and Banking Department show that, during the period 1972–1974, the total investment capital for loans reached approximately 3,130 million Saigon Dong and 138 million Riel. From 1974, implementing Central Party Directives 06/CT/73, 09-CT/74, and 03-CT/75 on building liberated areas and base zones in the new situation, credit activities continued to expand to provinces and newly liberated areas, with a total capital of approximately 2 million USD during this period.

Thanks to this credit, the economy of the liberated areas and resistance bases gradually expanded. Many industrial, agricultural, and commercial establishments such as cotton, textiles, yarn; general merchandise, technological products; and food were formed and developed. At the same time, a series of state-owned and small-scale industrial establishments such as road construction, rice milling, crop processing, sawmills, carpentry workshops, brick kilns, mechanical workshops, repair shops, and blacksmiths were also built and put into operation.

In Tay Ninh and Binh Phuoc, several state-owned and small-scale industrial enterprises were established, such as sugar mills, rice mills, vegetable processing facilities, and rubber factories. In some areas, tractor teams were formed in the war zone bases to serve in land reclamation and agricultural restoration, while also providing farmers with additional capital to restore and expand production, gradually forming new economic zones. After liberation, some concentrated production areas such as the Bau Lung farm (Tay Ninh) and areas in Binh Phuoc became prosperous economic zones, making significant contributions to the national budget during the period of national reconstruction.

Young bankers go to the battlefield B

Teaching credit operations in the Southern battlefield.

Alongside the deployment of credit and treasury management, another particularly important task of the C32 Banking and Credit Department was training financial officers right on the battlefield. Given the shortage and weakness of local personnel in terms of expertise, establishing a systematic training system was considered fundamental to maintaining and expanding financial and banking activities in the liberated areas.

According to the records of Mr. Pham Van Hai (Ba Hai), after joining the C32 Banking and Credit Department, he was assigned by the Central Economic and Financial Department of the Southern Region to establish the framework for a vocational school. Initially, the force consisted of only 12 people, including the general manager, teaching staff, chief accountant, medical staff, and a number of others responsible for security, catering, and supplies.

Mr. Pham Van Hai (pictured in 2016), an officer of the R-C32 Banking and Credit Department - was assigned by the Central Economic and Financial Bureau of the Southern Region to establish the framework for the Economic and Financial Vocational School during the 1969-1970 period.

This team was responsible for both building the school and receiving students sent from other units. All the school's officers and staff, along with the students, directly participated in setting up camps, digging trenches and shelters to protect against bombs and artillery, and were always in a state of combat readiness. The assembly hall, which also served as a classroom, was a large bunker built by the officers and soldiers themselves in the middle of the forest.

In January 1969, the first basic training course commenced with nearly 30 students. Despite the extremely limited resources, the training program was relatively well-organized, focusing on accounting and finance, while also imparting fundamental knowledge of currency, credit, and banking operations under wartime conditions. All the instructors were part-time staff, mainly from the B68 force deployed from the North, each responsible for a specific topic, preparing lessons and directly teaching the classes.

A distinctive feature of these training courses is that the teaching content is always closely linked to battlefield realities. Topics such as industrial credit, rural credit, accounting, and currency are all designed so that trainees can apply them immediately in their units after completing the course. This training method has helped the financial officers in the regions and provinces gradually shift from working based on experience to working with procedures, records, and principles.

Following the initial training course, and with the reinforcement of personnel from the North, training activities expanded in both scale and content. The Central Economic and Financial Bureau of the Southern Region continuously organized training courses for cadres from the regions and provinces from Zone V southward, with each course having approximately 40 trainees. The training content was not limited to accounting and finance but also included knowledge on treasury management, budget allocation, payments, and credit for production.

By 1973, the training system was upgraded to the Central Bureau's Economic and Financial Vocational Training School. The training program was organized flexibly, divided into two blocks: professional and cultural, thereby training hundreds of cadres to supplement key battlefields such as T2, T3, and T6. This was an important development showing that the training of economic and financial cadres was now on par with the requirements of expanding and consolidating liberated areas.

From a makeshift vocational training school deep in the jungle, a large force of financial and economic cadres was formed right on the battlefields of Southern Vietnam. They not only handled accounting, finance, and credit work in the regions and provinces, but also contributed to maintaining the flow of finance and currency in the liberated areas, while simultaneously creating an important foundation for the takeover and operation of the banking system after the country's reunification.

Bank officials from the B68 Liaison Committee during a meeting in Ho Chi Minh City.

Source: https://thoibaonganhang.vn/mai-truong-tin-dung-giua-rung-sau-181368.html