Sandbox Banking - a breakthrough for Fintech Viet
On July 1, 2025, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) held a seminar to disseminate Decree 94/2025/ND-CP on the controlled testing mechanism (sandbox) in the banking sector, opening a legal corridor for the first time for financial technology solutions (Fintech) to be tested in practice, promising a major change in the way people access e-wallet and digital banking services.
Speaking at the seminar, Mr. Ron H. Slangen - Deputy National Director of ADB in Vietnam said: ADB supports the Decree on Controlled Testing Mechanism, promotes comprehensive finance, climate friendliness, and creates a favorable environment for financial technology innovation.
Meanwhile, Mr. Thomas Gass - Swiss Ambassador to Vietnam affirmed that the sandbox Decree will encourage innovation, reduce barriers for startups, help Vietnam build a creative, accessible financial system, realize the goal of becoming a high-income country by 2045 and achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
Decree 94 is considered an important legal document, creating a testing corridor within the scope of control for Fintech solutions, helping organizations have a legal basis to deploy services, while supporting management agencies to monitor, assess risks, and complete the legal framework for financial and technological activities. The issuance of banking sandbox demonstrates the Government's determination to promote innovation and develop the digital economy.
Digital banking infrastructure ready for testing
According to the SBV, the banking sector's infrastructure has been strongly invested in to serve digital transformation: the interbank electronic payment system processes an average of VND820 trillion per day; the financial switching and electronic clearing system processes 26 million transactions/day; the national credit information infrastructure has been upgraded with a successful data update rate of over 98%. More than 117 million individual customer records (nearly 100% of personal accounts for digital transactions) and more than 927 thousand institutional customer records (more than 75% of accounts for digital transactions) have had biometric information compared.
Notably, nearly 87% of Vietnamese adults now have bank accounts; the value of non-cash payments in 2024 is 25 times GDP. These figures show that the Vietnamese banking industry is ready for a sandbox testing mechanism, meeting the requirements of modernization and improving access to financial services.
The seminar will continue to be held in Ho Chi Minh City on July 2 and Da Nang on July 3, to convey the policy of Decree 94/2025/ND-CP to subjects of national application, contributing significantly to the testing implementation, promoting innovation in financial technology, modernizing the banking system, serving the goal of developing the digital economy.
