"Saigon's Wall Street" over 150 years ago

Anyone who has visited Ben Chuong Duong (now the beginning of Vo Van Kiet Boulevard), Ham Nghi Street, and Nguyen Cong Tru Street (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City) will undoubtedly be surprised to see many imposing buildings, both classical and modern in style, housing banks, financial companies, or securities firms. Interestingly, this area is not just a few decades old, but has existed for over 150 years and can be considered the "ancestral" international financial center of Vietnam.

The HSBC Bank building from the 1930s at the corner of Ben Chuong Duong and Ho Tung Mau streets, now managed by the State Bank of Vietnam. Photo: ARCHIVE

Trade, credit, and insurance are closely linked.

When planning the modern Saigon urban area from the late 1860s, the French paid attention to shaping the "money district" located next to the commercial port. Indeed, the Saigon Commercial Port stretched from Me Linh Square to Khanh Hoi Port, with important buildings connected to each other such as the Customs Office, the Commercial Port Office and the Dragon House ⁽¹⁾ . The "money district" started from the D'Adran (Ho Tung Mau) - Quai de Belgique (Ben Chuong Duong) intersection to Ong Lanh Bridge . This was where the headquarters of banks, financial companies, insurance companies, import-export companies, shipping companies and even consulates were located, along with amenities serving the business community.

The two are only a short distance apart! If you go along Napoleon Street (Ton Duc Thang Street), it's only about 100 meters. Crossing the Tau Hu Canal by boat is also very close. Connecting the trading port and the "gold and silver district"—to use today's terminology—was only "30 seconds" after the Mong Bridge was completed in 1894 and the Khanh Hoi Quay Bridge in 1904. Initially, the "gold and silver district" was located within a quadrilateral, with the longest side being Ben Chuong Duong, the shortest side being Ho Tung Mau (connecting to Nguyen Hue Boulevard), and the other two sides being Ham Nghi Boulevard and Calmette Street.

Thus, the "money district" had a very "prime" location, not only close to the seaport but also adjacent to the city's largest market. It's no coincidence that when the old Ben Thanh Market was moved to its current location, the French authorities built the Cochinchina Treasury building here, the headquarters of a public financial institution, within walking distance of private financial institutions. Furthermore, the road along the Tau Hu Canal was the main road leading to Cholon – the commercial center, the hub for purchasing agricultural products by the Chinese, and also the location of large-scale rice mills, agricultural product processing plants, and handicraft factories.

The arrangement of the "money district" and the port area side-by-side was very advantageous for business. Here, merchants, ship owners, captains, warehouse workers, credit and insurance agents could easily meet to gather information and discuss business. One of the gathering places for businessmen and "affairs" (brokers) in Saigon before 1945 was the Namkin restaurant at 11-13 Lefèbreve (Nguyen Cong Tru Street), located in the "money district". This was also a similar urban planning style to port cities such as Marseilles, Bordeaux (France), London (England), New York (USA), Hong Kong, Shanghai (China), and Singapore.

These "tycoons"...

The "money district" still retains its imposing buildings, once the headquarters and symbols of the tycoons of the French colonial era. Reflected in the waters of the Tau Hu Canal , near the Mong Bridge, stands a massive five-story building in a silver-gray color. The building, with its four facades and occupying an entire block, was constructed between 1929 and 1930. This was the headquarters of the Banque de l'Indochine (BIC) – the Bank of Indochina – a private French bank (1875), headquartered in Paris but authorized to issue currency and provide many important financial services in Indochina. This building now houses the State Bank of Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City.

Saigon's financial and banking district, formed from the late 19th century to the present day, still retains traces located between Ben Chuong Duong (Vo Van Kiet Boulevard and Ham Nghi Boulevard), with the iconic Indochina Bank building (now the State Bank of Vietnam) having a red tiled roof and occupying four sides of the street. Photo: PHUC TIEN

Near the BIC building, there is another building, also silver-gray, located at the corner of Vo Van Kiet and Ho Tung Mau streets. Built in the same 1930s as the BIC building, and on a smaller scale, this building still possesses its own distinct grandeur. It was originally the headquarters of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank (HSBC), a bank established by British capitalists in Hong Kong in 1865, which opened a branch in Saigon in 1870. Adjacent to it, on Ho Tung Mau street, are two other large buildings that were formerly the headquarters of the British Standard Chartered Bank and Dainan Koosi Trading Company, a branch of the Japanese Matsushita Group. After April 1975, all three buildings were managed by state-owned entities. Meanwhile, the four-story Banque Franco Chinoise pour le Commerce et l'Industrie (BFC), also known as the Franco-Chinese Commercial Bank, stood majestically at the corner of what is now Ham Nghi and Hai Trieu streets. In this "gold and silver" district, besides the aforementioned bank buildings, there was another building, though not a bank, that held a very prestigious position. This was the headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce, built around 1927-1928, and currently the headquarters of the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange. This building served as a meeting place for all businessmen – regardless of nationality – operating in Saigon and Southern Vietnam.

During the French colonial period, the "money district" housed dozens of banks, financial institutions, insurance companies, and shipping and import-export companies. Between 1954 and 1975, the banking sector alone comprised 32 institutions, including 18 Vietnamese and 14 foreign, with offices clustered in numerous high-rise buildings along Ham Nghi, Ben Chuong Duong, and Nguyen Cong Tru avenues.

Today, with the rapid development of the digital economy , telecommunications, and AI algorithms, the construction of an international financial center will certainly not focus solely on real estate or buildings. More importantly, it will depend on goods, telecommunications infrastructure, and especially whether the legal framework and human resources are strong enough to attract international capital and businesses.

Perhaps that's a lesson from "Saigon's Wall Street" over 150 years ago for us to reflect upon and learn from!

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(1) The Customs building was built around 1863, initially the Cosmopolitan Hotel, then the colonial government bought it to make it the Indochina Customs headquarters, now the headquarters of the Regional Customs Branch II. The Commercial Port building was built later, has been demolished, and is now the location of the Saigon One Tower. The Dragon House, built in 1863-1865, was the headquarters of the French state shipping company Messageries Impériale (later renamed Messageries Maritimes). After 1954, it became the headquarters of the Saigon Port Management Board, now the Ho Chi Minh Museum branch in Ho Chi Minh City. The building is located at the bow of Khanh Hoi port.

PHUC TIEN

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/pho-wall-sai-gon-hon-150-nam-truoc-post793103.html