Financial Sector Reforms in Vietnam: Selected Issues and Problems

The purpose of this report is to concentrate on performing in-depth analyses of selected issues of prominence and importance for the future success of the reform process rather than describing the current day-to-day operations and procedures in the financial sector. This eclectic approach implies that other important issues such as the development of a payment system, the state and prospects for the inter-bank markets, and the human capital and organisational issues in the state-owned banks are neglected and/or not analysed in depth. They are, however, omissions due to constraints imposed by funds and time available rather than a failure to comprehend their importance. In this context, the present report should thus be viewed as a first step towards establishing an open dialogue about the nature and speed of the financial sector reforms in Vietnam based on recurrent independent assessments of financial sector issues and problems.