In Hanoi, on October 15, 2018, Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) attended and witnessed the Exchange Ceremony of the Joint Memorandum of Cooperation (JMOC) on Open API in the banking sector among the SBV’s Information Technology Department, Korea’s National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA) and Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute (KFTC).
In his opening speech, Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh asserted that the development of Fintech has fundamentally changed the face of the finance and banking sector around the world, including Vietnam. In the past few years, Vietnam’s banking sector has always been proactive in approaching and researching to apply scientific and technological achievements in order to bring into life more convenient banking products and services, enhancing the customers’ experience, thereby contributing to the creation of breakthroughs in the sector, shortening the gap in the level of development of the banking system as compared to more developed countries in the world. However, the rapid development of Fintech has posed new challenges to the SBV regarding the establishment of a regulatory and legal framework for this field. Recognizing the importance and the challenges of Fintech development, in March 2017, the SBV Governor issued a Decision on establishing the SBV Steering Committee for Fintech headed by an SBV Deputy Governor. The Development Strategy for Vietnam Banking Sector to 2025 with Orientations to 2030 signed for issuance by the Prime Minister in August, 2018 also defines the orientations for the organizational model, the operational mode, the application of technology and the development of the banking services must be associated with the advantages and technological characteristics of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0).
Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh delivers his opening speech
One of the key activities for the SBV in implementing the strategic tasks in relation to Industry 4.0 is to improve the legal framework and create a synchronized ecosystem for Fintech banks and companies to develop and supply financial products and services on the digital platform in order to increase the accessibility to financial services of the people and the businesses, and keep up with the worldwide development of the banking services. Accordingly, along with the ongoing digitalization process around the world, the SBV has been working to develop a standardized Open API that will enable banks and the Fintech community to move towards an open system.
The SBV’s Information Technology Department has been assigned to take lead in studying and implementing the application of the typical technologies of Industry 4.0 in Vietnam’s banking industry. Currently, the SBV’s Information Technology Department has been organizing several researching groups on Cloud Computing, Big Data, Digital Bank, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence and Open API.
In Korea, the Common Open Platform for Banks in Korea was officially launched in August, 2016 by the KFTC, with 16 member banks and 23 member securities companies.
The cooperation among the SBV’s Information Technology Department and Korea’s NIPA and the KFTC will help the SBV’s Information Technology Department to gain practical experience in deploying Open API from Korea, helping to speed up the process of researching and advising the SBV Governor in amending and supplementing the policies and regulations in order to create a legal environment for open information in Vietnam’s banking industry in line with the common process of digital transformation of the whole economy and the society. This will bring benefits to all participants such as banks, Fintech companies and especially the customers.
Le Hang