Credit institutions headquartered in these financial centers will not be bound by restrictions on to foreign ownership or foreign investment conditions when providing services there or across borders.

Hanoi is advancing its efforts to integrate technology into urban management by expanding the pilot program for cashless parking payments throughout the city.

One of the key priorities for the banking sector is to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as they generate a large number of jobs and contribute significantly to the economy.

HSBC and ANZ gave positive reviews on the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)’s decision to raise the VND/USD daily reference rate by 1%.

The State Bank of Viet Nam weakened the Vietnamese dong by 1 per cent, raising the US$-VND daily reference rate from VND21,246 to VND21,458.

Despite many barriers, foreign banks have been prospering in Vietnam, dominating many service market segments.

The Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Japan’s Hiroshima Shinkin bank to support Japanese businesses operating in Vietnam.

Credit Suisse has been named Best Foreign Investment Bank in Vietnam in The Asset magazine’s Triple A Country Awards for 2014.

Banks predict that remittances from overseas Vietnamese will reach US$12 - 13 billion this year.

Global Financial Market Review has chosen OceanBank the winner of three distinguished international banking awards – the Best Retail Bank Vietnam 2014, Best Banking Group in Vietnam and Best Online Banking Initiative of the Year.

The appreciation of the Vietnam dong against other currencies has benefited many import/export companies. The dong/dollar exchange rate has been stable since the beginning of the year with the supply always higher than demand from trading companies, reflected in the positive trade balance this year.

In 2014, on average, each Vietnamese firm spends 872 hours paying taxes and the tax costs account for 40.8% of profits, according to the World Bank’s (WB) annual report on the global business environment.

​Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said yesterday that public debt remained below the safety limit of 65 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), and predicted it would sink to 60.2 per cent by 2020.

On October 29th, World Bank (WB) has released its 12th annual report on business environment reflecting the ease of doing business in 189 countries in the world including Vietnam.

SBV said that the violations were discovered during its inspection of the legal status and credit quality of credit institutions, which is part of the project on restructuring credit institutions, as approved by the Politburo and the Government.

The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) recently released a draft circular on consumer lending following the setting up by commercial banks of subsidiary finance companies for the purpose.

The Vietnam Export-Import Bank (Eximbank) was selected as the “Best Bank in Vietnam 2014” by Euromoney - the world’s leading financial magazine.

Overseas remittances to Ho Chi Minh City are estimated at US$3.12 billion during the first nine months of 2014, a year-on-year increase of 11.6%, according to the State Bank of Vietnam’s HCM City branch.

​The President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Takehiko Nakao, has confirmed the bank’s willingness to support Vietnam in the development process.

​A recent survey conducted by the leading insurance agency Nissay of 4,285 companies from across Japan indicates they are sanguine on Asia and Vietnam in particular, with its economic prominence on the uptick.

Office rental fees in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City averaged US$42 and US$48 per square metre, respectively during the first half of the year and were higher than comparable space in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and Manila (the Philippines).

Domestic and international experts gathered a conference in Hanoi on September 12 to work out measures to reinforce the government financial management information system (GFMIS).

The Vietnam Assets Management Company (VAMC) has purchased 59.5 trillion VND (2.83 billion USD) worth of bad debts from 35 credit institutions by September 1, said Nguyen Quoc Hung – Chairman of VAMC’s member-board.