Executive Vice President cum General Secretary of the Vietnam Banks Association (VNBA) Nguyen Quoc Hung
At the meeting, BCG experts introduced the cooperation project between the UK Government, ASEAN and Vietnam with the aim of promoting trade finance, focusing on digitalization and fraud prevention. This project aims to increase liquidity and minimize fraud risks in trade finance, aiming to narrow the gap in trade finance in Vietnam through the use of technology solutions. At the same time, building Vietnam as a model of financial integration, thereby promoting the application of trade finance solutions throughout the ASEAN region.
Research conducted by BCG and the UK Government last year found that there is a large trade finance gap in ASEAN, with Vietnam accounting for 25% of it. The main factor causing this gap is the risk of fraud, especially duplicate or falsified documents.
On the other hand, the project focuses on testing trade finance solutions among banks and Fintech, and building a roadmap for developing Trade Finance Registry (TFR) in Vietnam. TFR is a centralized platform for recording and verifying trade-related information; aiming to improve the transparency of transactions, reduce fraud and optimize the trade finance process.
BCG is currently considering whether TFR can help address fraud risks and close the trade finance gap. BCG proposes to consult and exchange opinions with VNBA on these issues.
Speaking at the meeting, Executive Vice President cum General Secretary of VNBA Nguyen Quoc Hung pointed out the biggest barriers to trade finance in Vietnam, especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), including: Small and fragmented production scale; Lack of collateral leading to difficulty in accessing capital while the Credit Guarantee Fund for SMEs has not been effective; Enterprises lack market information... In particular, there are many complicated forms of fraud in trade finance, such as a set of documents used to borrow capital from many banks...
"The credit institutions have made efforts to use technology to strictly control, but loopholes cannot be avoided. Preventing and combating fraud is always a focus of the credit institutions", said Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hung.
Regarding TFR, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hung welcomed this BCG initiative and said that, if implemented, it will help improve the transparency of transactions and information linkage among banks.
The meeting was held online
However, to pilot TFR at Vietnamese banks, there needs to be direction from the management agency. Therefore, VNBA will discuss with the State Bank of Vietnam, as well as discuss with member organizations in the coming time on this issue.
At the meeting, Ms. Anis Mohd Nor - Director in charge of Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia of BCG agreed with the feedback from VNBA. At the same time, she invited VNBA to attend a roundtable discussion on trade finance within the framework of UK-SEA Tech Week in March 2025.
At the end of the meeting, the two sides agreeded to discuss in depth and cooperate more closely in the coming time.
BCG partnered with the UK Government last year on a study that found about $400 billion Trade Finance gap in ASEAN, with Vietnam accounting for 25% of it. One of the key drivers of this gap is the high risk of fraud in trade finance transactions, in particular duplicate financing.
The findings were recognised by the ASEAN Finance Ministers and Central Banks Governors during their Laos meeting in 2024.
Together with the UK Government and the ASEAN Secretariat, BCG is now assessing whether a Trade Finance Registry and its key components can lower fraud, to help close the Trade Finance Gap.
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