On July 10, 2019 at the headquarters of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh had a meeting with the Mission of the the Asia Foundation, led by Dr. Michael R. DiGregorio, the Asia Foundation's Country Representative in Vietnam.
Also attending the meeting were leaders of the SBV International Cooperation, the Department of Credit for Economic Sectors, the Monetary Policy Department, the Department of Legal Affairs, the Human Resources Department and the Banking Strategy Institute.
On behalf of the SBV Management Board, Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh welcomed the Mission of the Asia Foundation in Vietnam to visit and work with the SBV. On this occasion, the SBV Deputy Governor expressed his thanks for the Asia Foundation’s cooperation, and his hope that the Asia Foundation and other partners continued to accompany the SBV in particular, and the relevant ministries and agencies of the Government of Vietnam, to make further valuable contributions to enhancing the development of green credit and green growth.
Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh speaks at the meeting
At the meeting, Dr. Michael DiGregorio and Mr. Mike Coates (representative of GBRW Consulting Firm) presented the results of pre-feasibility study on Green Financial Institutions in Vietnam, conducted by Vivid Economics, GBRW and the Asia Foundation, under the facilitation of the SBV. The report points out Vietnam's needs for green investments to implement the national strategy on green growth, the challenges and gaps of Vietnam's current financial market in this area.
The report also proposes models of green financial institutions in Vietnam such as: a new model of public green financial institutions; the model of a green financial institution managed by a non-governmental organization; the model of an independent green financial organization from foreign countries; the model of a green financial institution directly under the management of the SBV; the model of a green financial institution under a state-owned commercial bank; the model of a green financial institution directly under a commercial bank; the model of a green financial institution directly under Vietnam Bank for Social Policy. In particular, the research team also pointed out the model of integrating a green financial unit located at the SBV (playing the role of providing technical assistance and creating markets) in coordination with a green financial unit at one or many state-owned commercial banks (playing the role of providing financial support to realize green investment opportunities), which seems most feasible in the current context of Vietnam.
Dr. Michael DiGregorio and Mr. Mike Coates present the reports at the meeting
After listening to the report of the Asia Foundation and ideas from the functional departments, Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh highly appreciated the substances and the approaches of the research team. He emphasized that these are useful references for the SBV in the process of making and managing policies related to green growth in the banking sector. The research of the Asia Foundation is very much needed in the current global context of working together to address issues related to the financial resources for responding to climate change and the environment, as well as practical needs in Vietnam.
The SBV Deputy Governor also welcomed the recommendations of the research team about the model of integrating a green financial unit located at the SBV with green financial units at one or several state-owned commercial banks, and requested the research team to analyze intensively this model (strong and weak points, operating mechanism, structural organization, systematic interactions, the compliance with Vietnam’s legal framework…) to ensure the feasibility and the sustainability of this model in practice.
In addition, Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh emphasized that, in the coming time, the SBV functional entities would continue to coordinate and uilize this research results in the process of reviewing and improving policies on green credit and green growth in Vietnam, as well as in implementing the Development Strategy of Vietnam Banking Sector and the Scheme on developing green banks in Vietnam.
Le Hang