What Will Make the Vietnam International Financial Center Different From the Rest of the World?

Speaking on Vietnam Television, Ha My Tran, Founder and Chair of Danang Fintech Lab (DFL24), and Professor Duc Pham Hi shared their perspectives on the development of the Vietnam International Financial Center (VIFC). Both emphasized that technology can serve as a strategic lever, enabling Vietnam to narrow the gap with more established global financial hubs and create new competitive advantages in the digital economy.

DFL24 Founder, Ms. Ha My Tran, speaking on Vietnam Television

Learning From — Not Copying — Global Models

Singapore, Dubai, and London were each built on distinct strengths. Vietnam's opportunity, therefore, is not to recreate a model that has already succeeded elsewhere, but to identify its own advantages and translate them into new capabilities for the future of finance. Vietnam brings a young, adaptable workforce with growing potential in fintech, digital assets, tokenization, green finance, and cross-border financial services — but as Tran noted, that potential only becomes a genuine advantage once it is transformed into systems that can operate in practice.

Three Foundations for a Future-Ready Financial Centre

According to Ha My Tran, three areas should be prioritized:

• A next-generation regulatory sandbox — Beyond giving businesses a controlled environment to test new products, a modern sandbox should help regulators assess transaction flows, user behavior, and risk scenarios before new policies are introduced at scale.
• Secure, future-ready data infrastructure — As financial assets are increasingly stored and transferred digitally, security is becoming a foundation of financial trust. Vietnam should proactively build long-term protection capabilities, including quantum-resistant technologies.
• An AI-native financial centre — AI can be embedded into the centre's operating architecture, supporting transaction monitoring, anomaly detection, risk assessment, and data-driven policymaking.

Technology Creates Speed — Institutions Create Trust

Tran was clear that technology alone is not enough: "Technology creates speed, while institutions create trust." An international financial centre cannot be built through incentives, physical infrastructure, or landmark buildings alone — it requires an enabling institutional framework that is open enough to support experimentation, yet robust enough to protect investors, ensure accountability, and manage systemic risk.

DFL24's Role in Building the VIFC

As one of the pioneering organizations contributing to the VIFC in Da Nang, DFL24 is developing controlled testing environments, connecting international experts, strengthening local talent, and advancing practical applications across fintech, blockchain, and digital assets.

As Tran put it, this is not simply the journey of building one organization — it is part of a much larger question: what position will Vietnam build within the global digital financial architecture of the coming decades?