Ho Chi Minh City officially opens int’l financial center

Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday officially launched the Vietnam International Financial Center in Ho Chi Minh City (VIFC-HCMC) at its headquarters at 8 Nguyen Hue Street, Saigon Ward.

The inauguration marks the center’s formal entry into operation and opens a new chapter in Vietnam’s international financial integration.

More than a ceremonial milestone, the debut of the center represents a significant institutional step, underscoring Vietnam’s determination and that of Ho Chi Minh City in particular to establish a modern, transparent financial hub capable of connecting global capital flows with the real economy.

The launch ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Standing Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh, leaders of ministries and departments, Ho Chi Minh City officials, and representatives of international organizations, financial institutions, banks, investment funds, and major domestic and foreign corporations.

Addressing the event, PM Chinh emphasized that amid profound global economic restructuring, intensifying strategic competition and shifting international capital flows toward emerging hubs, establishing an international financial center in Vietnam is both inevitable and strategically transformative.

He described the center not merely as a place where capital converges, but as the ‘soft infrastructure’ of the economy.

The center plays a pivotal role in allocating resources, providing modern financial instruments, strengthening national competitiveness, and helping Vietnam transition from a ‘capital recipient’ to a proactive ‘market maker.’

For the center to succeed, the government leader outlined three key factors, including a superior institutional framework and mechanisms, a distinctive and differentiated model, and intelligent, flexible, and efficient governance.

He stressed that transparent regulations and seamless infrastructure are fundamental to building investor confidence.

New growth engine for Ho Chi Minh City

Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Nguyen Van Duoc affirmed that the center is not a standalone project but a long-term strategic mission aligned with the city’s ambition to elevate its position on the regional and global financial map.

To maintain its role as Vietnam’s economic locomotive and contribute more substantially to national growth, the city must cultivate new development drivers, with finance, capital markets, and modern financial services at the forefront.

VIFC-HCMC was designed as an open ecosystem closely linked to the real economy, directly serving capital needs for infrastructure, industry, logistics, green transition, innovation, and smart urban development in Ho Chi Minh City and nationwide.

VIFC-HCMC is meant to become a leading financial center in the region, envisioned as a hub for capital flows and financial services through the establishment of specialized markets and products, ultimately serving as a new growth pole and enhancing Vietnam’s overall standing.

Founding and strategic members

A highlight of the ceremony was the presentation of certificates to founding and strategic members.

The founding members include Sovico Group, Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MB), TPBank, Saigon-Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB), Son Kim Capital JSC, VinaCapital, and Nasdaq.

The strategic members comprise Nam A Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Nam A Bank), Ho Chi Minh City Finance and Investment State-owned Company, the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, the On-chain Economy Alliance, Gemadept Corporation, and social media platform TikTok.

These pioneering institutions are expected to play core roles in building market structures, developing product ecosystems, training high-quality human resources, establishing operational standards, and strengthening VIFC-HCMC’s international credibility.

A distinctive feature of the membership model is that the founding and strategic members bring with them their entire ecosystems, including global client networks, financial and technology partners, operational experience from major financial centers, financial capacity, and risk management expertise.

This is expected to generate a powerful spillover effect, enabling the center to rapidly build market depth and regional competitiveness.

Strategic pillars and ecosystem development

At the opening ceremony, VIFC-HCMC unveiled a development model anchored on several strategic pillars, including an aviation finance center that serves capital, leasing, insurance, and risk management needs for aircraft fleets and the Asia-Pacific aviation logistics chain.

The other pillars are a maritime finance center linked to international trade, logistics and supply chain finance; a commodity exchange and a high-tech depository and clearing center, and a fintech and digital banking ecosystem.

A green, sustainable, and transition finance value chain, and modern financial market infrastructure geared toward international exchanges and advanced financial products are also among its key pillars.

From vision to early results

The city’s leader underscored a guiding principle for the center’s development: ‘Think genuinely – act genuinely – operate genuinely – deliver real results.’

Although officially operational for just over a month, VIFC-HCMC has already recorded several foundational achievements.

The aviation finance center has been formed with pledged capital of US$6.1 billion, signaling early confidence from international investors.

The maritime finance center has been developed to support trade and logistics financing.

The center has mobilized $2 billion for smart urban data infrastructure and city development finance programs.

A $1 billion investment fund dedicated to the city’s on-chain economy has also been established, focusing on blockchain, asset tokenization, and next-generation digital finance models.

In the coming period, billions of U.S. dollars in cross-border commercial transactions from TikTok are expected to be processed through VIFC-HCMC’s interbank and financial systems.

The center has also launched its official portal, a membership registration platform, and an AI-powered virtual assistant chatbot to guide procedures and respond to investor inquiries, marking the application of AI agents in investor services and operational automation.

These achievements demonstrated that VIFC-HCMC is moving beyond vision to concrete capital flows, projects and market components, reflecting both strong political commitment and effective implementation capacity.

Commitments from key members

Drawing on more than 30 years of experience working with financial centers such as London, New York, Dublin, Hong Kong, and Dubai, Dr. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, chairwoman of Sovico Group, noted that the core of any successful financial center is not merely capital scale but trust.

Once trust is established, capital not only arrives but stays for the long term, she said.

As a long-term investor in Ho Chi Minh City, Thao pledged her readiness to contribute to the city’s robust development, and shared that leading aviation companies such as Boeing and Airbus, along with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), have been accompanying and supporting the establishment of an Asia-Pacific aviation finance center in Ho Chi Minh City.

“Sovico Group is committed to continuing to connect international capital flows, deploying new financial models, investing in digital transformation, green finance and inclusive finance, and developing high-quality financial and technology human resources for Vietnam,” Thao stated.

Luu Trung Thai, chairman of MB, stressed that international experience shows the success of a financial center depends not only on market size and product diversity but, more importantly, on institutional trust, infrastructure quality, and the long-term commitment of financial institutions.

MB is prepared to invest for the long term, connect domestic and international financial-technology ecosystems, and promote high-quality financial products within a transparent, safe, and globally competitive environment, he said.

Tran Khai Hoan, acting CEO of Nam A Bank, described the formation of VIFC-HCMC as both a vision for the city and a strategic move for Vietnam to integrate more deeply into global financial flows through a modern and competitive model.

To help realize that goal, Nam A Bank will focus on breakthrough financial solutions and expand cooperation with reputable international organizations.

These include technical assistance from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in green supply chain finance, collaboration with FiinGroup to deploy a dedicated digital platform that digitizes the entire supply chain financing process, and partnership with the Global Green Growth Institute to develop standards and appraisal frameworks for issuing green bonds, creating an effective capital mobilization channel for VIFC-HCMC.

Vietnam officially announced the creation of the International Financial Center on December 21, 2025, with two locations in Ho Chi Minh City and the central city of Da Nang.

The Da Nang facility was inaugurated on January 9, 2026.

By Tieu Bac & Anh Hong – Tuoi Tre News – February 11, 2026