Major barriers in bad debt handling
According to Mr. Dang Dinh Thich - General Director of Vietnam Asset Management Company Limited (VAMC), although the on-balance sheet bad debt ratio is being controlled within the allowed limit, the scale of potential bad debts and debts that have been restructured is still large, reflecting the difficulties of the business sector that have not been thoroughly handled.
Notably, bad debt risks are currently tending to focus on industries, especially in fields such as real estate, construction, exports and industries heavily dependent on the international market. In the context that asset market liquidity has not clearly improved and the economy's capital absorption capacity is still limited, part of bad debt has not been fully reflected.
Bad debts today are not only a problem of the past but also risks accumulating for the future if there are no synchronous and strong enough solutions" - Mr. Dang Dinh Thich assessed.
On the side of credit institutions, Ms. Pham Nhi - Deputy General Director of Techcombank AMC - said that 2026 is considered a pivotal time for the banking system when quickly and thoroughly handling bad debts not only helps improve the capital adequacy ratio but also opens up room for credit growth in the new cycle.
According to Ms. Pham Nhi, in the past time, many important legal documents have been issued or amended such as the Law on Credit Institutions 2024, the amended Law in 2025 and Decree 304/2025/ND-CP on seizure of collateral, contributing to removing major bottlenecks in bad debt handling. However, in practice, there are still many obstacles that need to be further improved.
In addition, legal obstacles related to collateral being tourism real estate are also significantly affecting the progress of debt handling. The lack of clear regulations on value-added tax obligations when handling collateral also causes difficulties for many credit institutions in the actual implementation process. Especially, in the context of increasingly digitalized credit transactions, the legal framework for electronic evidence in civil proceedings needs to be further improved to improve the efficiency of resolving credit disputes and handling bad debts.
Completing the debt handling market to open up room for growth
From a macroeconomic policy perspective, Dr. Can Van Luc - Chief Economist of BIDV - said that it is necessary to continue to improve the legal framework for handling bad debts in a market-oriented direction to improve liquidity for the debt trading market and attract social resources to participate in handling bad debts.
According to Dr. Can Van Luc, it is necessary to consider expanding the right to seize collateral in the revised Law on Credit Institutions in a selective direction to attract more resources from the private sector and foreign investors. At the same time, it is necessary to adjust the conditions for VAMC to buy debts at market prices and allow credit institutions, asset management companies and debt handling organizations to sell debts at market prices, even below book value.
Another important solution is to study the mechanism of debt securitization according to the direction of Resolution 68-NQ/TW, develop a secondary debt trading market and refer to international experience such as the KAMCO model of Korea in operating the bad debt handling market.
In addition, increasing the financial capacity of VAMC, developing intermediary organization systems such as debt valuation, credit rating and debt trading brokerage are also considered important solutions to improve the efficiency of bad debt handling in the coming period.
According to experts, if the legal framework is completed and the debt trading market is developed, bad debts are not only a risk but can also become a source of growth.
