Expanding access to capital for businesses
The construction of the International Financial Center in Ho Chi Minh City (VIFC-HCMC) is expected to open up more capital mobilization channels, connect domestic businesses with international capital flows and create new momentum for growth.
According to Mr. Tran Viet Anh - General Director of Nam Thai Son Import-Export Company, the capital market will be one of the important areas when the Ho Chi Minh City International Financial Center comes into operation. Vietnam is entering a new playing field, while Singapore and Hong Kong (China) have a long history of development and a lot of experience in operating international financial centers.
However, experience from these centers shows that the financial playground is not only for large corporations. In Singapore and Hong Kong (China), many small and medium-sized enterprises can still participate, access capital and develop in the financial ecosystem.
This is also an issue that Ho Chi Minh City needs to consider when designing the International Financial Center. The city currently has a large private economic force, of which the majority are small and medium-sized enterprises. Although each enterprise has a not too large capital demand, the total demand of the whole sector is very significant. Meanwhile, many businesses are still heavily dependent on bank credit and do not have many other capital mobilization options.
Businesses need to gradually get rid of excessive dependence on bank capital sources and be more proactive in capital mobilization" - Mr. Tran Viet Anh assessed.
From the perspective of the business community, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hoa - Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Business Association - expects the Ho Chi Minh City International Financial Center to soon operate with appropriate mechanisms, institutions and policies to attract investment funds and capital flows from outside. At that time, the market will have new resources, instead of mainly relying on people's capital and bank credit.
Mr. Hoa also said that in the process of moving towards the goal of high and sustainable growth, the State can mobilize more resources through issuing government bonds, associated with infrastructure investment programs and projects, including railways. This will be an important channel to supplement capital for development.
From attracting capital to building a financial ecosystem
In fact, Ho Chi Minh City is showing increasing attraction to international capital flows. Mr. Pham Quang Nhat - Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Trade and Investment Promotion Center - said that as of July 2026, total foreign direct investment capital in the City reached more than 9.8 billion USD, an increase of 144.5% compared to the same period. Notably, there were 1,119 cases of capital contribution, share purchase and share purchase with a total registered capital of nearly 2.74 billion USD.
These figures show the interest of international investors in the prospects of Ho Chi Minh City. However, according to Mr. Nhat, attracting a lot of capital is only the first step. More important is the quality of capital flow, absorption capacity and spread to production capacity, technology, human resources and competitiveness of domestic enterprises.
Therefore, investment promotion in the financial sector cannot just stop at project introduction but needs to aim to build an ecosystem connecting investors, financial institutions, businesses, management agencies and priority projects of the City" - Mr. Nhat said.
This is also the core value that the Ho Chi Minh City International Finance Center aims for: creating an environment for capital flows to be mobilized more effectively, transactions to be more transparent, risks to be better managed, and new financial products to have conditions for development.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Huu Huan - Vice Chairman of the VIFC-HCMC Executive Agency - said that the Center aims to create an environment for international capital flows into Vietnam to be more favorable, with diverse financial products and mechanisms sufficient to create confidence for investors.
In 2026, the focus is identified as shifting from the "legal framework" to the "actual market", focusing on areas such as fund and asset management, capital markets, international bonds, green finance, fintech, digital assets, aviation and maritime finance.
According to Mr. Huan, VIFC-HCMC aims to attract several billion USD in the first year, moving towards 10-15 billion USD/year. The immediate focus is on global investment funds, which are assessed to have fast disbursement speeds, along with issuing international bonds and developing financial technology systems.
