The Vietnam Banks Association (VNBA), in collaboration with the British Consulate General in Hochiminh City and Boston Consulting Group (BCG), held a specialized workshop titled "Growth Gateway: Technical Design and Pathway to Proof of Concepts in Vietnam" on October 13, 2025. The event was organized to ensure the safety and transparency of trade finance activities.
The main objective of the workshop was to build a digital technology platform to effectively control fraud risks, thereby promoting the development of trade finance in Vietnam.
The workshop was attended by Dr. Nguyen Quoc Hung, Vice Chairman cum Secretary General of VNBA; representatives from many member banks such as Vietcombank, VietinBank, BIDV, VPBank, Techcombank, and Standard Chartered; as well as representatives from HSBC, BCG, and partner technology companies, including FPT IS (Vietnam), MonetaGo (USA), and Traydstream (UK).
TFR initiative is crucial for safe and transparent trade finance
Dr. Nguyen Quoc Hung, Vice Chairman and Secretary General of VNBA
Dr. Nguyen Quoc Hung, Vice Chairman and Secretary General of VNBA, stated that the TFR initiative is of particular importance, helping to support Vietnamese credit institutions in making their trade finance operations safer, more transparent, and more effective. He added that immediately after meetings with the British Consulate General and BCG, VNBA reported to the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) on the content and objectives of this initiative—particularly the construction of the trade finance database to prevent and combat fraud and scams in payments.
The Governor concurred, highly appreciating the initiative, and assigned VNBA to be the lead coordinator for implementation in cooperation with the British Embassy and BCG.
TFR progress and technical challenges
The concept of TFR has recently become known within the banking community and has garnered the attention of the industry's management levels. The benefits of TFR were acknowledged, and its research and implementation officially received support starting in August 2025. VNBA is honored to be designated as the lead unit guiding the TFR initiative.
This initiative is currently undergoing in-depth discussion and the design of a pilot implementation roadmap. VNBA is cooperating with technology partners to find the best solutions and achieve consensus for the earliest possible deployment of the pilot model.
Mr. Vincent Chin, Managing Director & Senior Partner, and Vice President of the Public Sector Practice at BCG
During the workshop, Mr. Vincent Chin, Managing Director & Senior Partner, and Vice President of the Public Sector Practice at BCG, emphasized that although Vietnam's trade volume has reached nearly $1 trillion, a trade finance gap of $90–100 billion remains due to the lack of effective risk control and data-sharing tools. The successful establishment of the TFR platform is expected to become a "catalyst" that helps to transparentize the market and could potentially increase the scale of trade finance by about 10%.
Mr. Chin also detailed the technical design of the TFR Database, stressing that TFR is built as a mechanism for cross-referencing information on trade finance transactions currently being financed among member banks. The core function is to address the issues of documentary fraud and double-financing (duplicate collateral), which represent the biggest risks threatening the stability of the trade finance market.
Some other expert opinions suggested that implementing TFR requires a high degree of data standardization and an effective governance model. This is necessary to ensure the system operates accurately and complies with anti-money laundering (AML), counter-terrorism financing (CTF) regulations, and current Vietnamese law.
Technology solutions for TFR in Vietnam
The presentations from technology companies provided specific insights into the technical solutions applicable to TFR in Vietnam:
MonetaGo (USA): Data security via encryption
Mr. Neil Shonhard, CEO and Co-Founder of Moneta Group and MonetaGo
Mr. Neil Shonhard, CEO and Co-Founder of Moneta Group and MonetaGo, introduced the Secure Financing System, a specialized platform designed to prevent trade finance fraud. This solution not only focuses on digitizing the process but also heavily emphasizes security. Secure financing uses encryption and confidential computing technology. This technique allows banks to verify the uniqueness of a transaction or asset without disclosing the sensitive details of that transaction to a third party, ensuring that the business data of each bank is absolutely protected.
Traydstream (UK): Automation for error reduction
Ms. Revathi Pattabiraman, APAC Business Director at Traydstream
Ms. Revathi Pattabiraman, APAC Business Director at Traydstream, presented the TradeGuard solution. TradeGuard focuses on applying technology to automate the process of document checking and processing in trade finance. In the traditional trade finance environment, the manual examination of complex document sets is a source of operational errors, creating loopholes for fraudulent behavior. TradeGuard helps accelerate processing speed while enhancing accuracy in cross-referencing documents against international rules and standards, thereby indirectly eliminating risks caused by operational errors.
FPT IS (Vietnam): Local system integration
Ms. Nguyen Hong Oanh, Product Director of the Banking & Finance Sector at FPT Information System Company Limited (FPT IS)
Ms. Nguyen Hong Oanh, Product Director of the Banking & Finance Sector at FPT Information System Company Limited (FPT IS), introduced the TradeFlat digital finance platform. This solution is expected to create a breakthrough in the Trade Finance and Supply Chain Finance sectors in Vietnam. The representative also presented the capacity of the domestic technology enterprise to participate in this strategic project. FPT IS affirmed its role as a partner with deep understanding of the technology infrastructure and legal environment of the Vietnamese banking industry. FPT IS's involvement is necessary to ensure the smooth integration of advanced TFR solutions into the existing banking system, compliant with technical standards and domestic regulations.
The workshop concluded with strong confidence and support from the delegates for the TFR initiative, which they viewed as an essential step to enhance competitiveness and risk management. Successful TFR implementation will help Vietnamese banks feel more confident in expanding their trade finance operations, especially in international transactions, creating sustainable growth momentum for the economy. VNBA and its partners are committed to continuing close coordination to finalize the remaining steps and launch TFR into the pilot phase as soon as possible.
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