The personal finance consulting market has not yet developed in Việt Nam. Photo thoibaonganhang.vn

HÀ NỘI — The banking system is set to take the lead in standardising personal financial consulting in Việt Nam, a sector that has yet to develop fully due to the absence of a clear legal framework, experts say.

Deputy Director of the State Bank of Vietnam’s Region No 2 Branch Nguyễn Đức Lệnh emphasises that financial consulting plays a crucial role from both financial and monetary perspectives.

“If developed professionally with a team of skilled consultants, the field will be a valuable resource to promote the financial market and banking activities, particularly in financial inclusion and the effective implementation of monetary and credit policies,” he said.

Lệnh points out that commercial banks and the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP) have already taken active and effective steps to support personal financial consulting over recent years. For instance, as of July 2025, outstanding loans provided by VBSP in HCM City to serve production, business needs and job creation reached nearly VNĐ19 trillion. Borrowers received guidance on personal financial management and the effective use of loans, resulting in an almost perfect on-time debt repayment rate and very low bad debts.

Many commercial banks, with extensive customer bases, transparent transaction data and widespread branch networks, have trialled wealth management models offering investment consulting, insurance and financial planning services to VIP clients.

Lệnh believes that with a comprehensive legal framework and systematic training, banks can become central hubs for personal financial consulting, especially in promoting the State Bank of Vietnam’s ‘digital literacy’ programme to raise financial awareness, particularly in rural areas.

CEO of FIDT Investment Consulting and Asset Management JSC Ngô Thành Huấn said that the personal finance consulting market has not yet developed in Việt Nam. Most consultants are just selling products to earn commissions but are not closely linked to customers’ long-term goals.

Most of the income of consultants comes from commissions on selling insurance, cards and credit, making them more like ‘salespeople’ than ‘financial advisors’. Therefore, banks can be an important link to professionalise personal financial consulting teams by enhancing human resource training and standardising degrees and specialised certificates.

According to Huấn, many commercial banks in Việt Nam are currently strongly developing an open banking ecosystem according to the financial group model, which is quite favourable for applying the overall financial consulting model. In this model, the bank plays a focal role in planning long-term strategies for customers and then connecting customers to experts specialising in insurance, securities and real estate products, helping customers both achieve financial goals and access suitable products.

Chairman of the Vietnam Financial Consultants Association (VFCA) Dr Lê Minh Nghĩa said that personal finance is still being neglected and not given due attention in Việt Nam, which causes an imbalance in the financial market with consequences such as usury and fraud related to personal finance.

Nghĩa believes that in order to develop sustainable personal financial consulting, the first priority is to change the mindset about the financial consulting profession in a legitimate and systematic way. The profession needs to shift from ‘introducing and selling products’ as currently practised to ‘comprehensive consulting.’

At the same time, he said, it is necessary to strongly promote financial training activities and raise awareness for all classes of people.

Meanwhile, to develop the personal financial consulting sector, BIDV Chief Economist Dr Cấn Văn Lực said that the Government and ministries need to quickly complete the legal framework to clearly regulate the sector in at least a decree, and then incorporate it into law.

Besides, it is necessary to develop personal financial consulting services associated with the construction of international financial centres in Đà Nẵng and HCM City.

Việt Nam also needs to soon build a standard capacity framework and a financial advisory licensing mechanism, Lực proposes. — BIZHUB/VNS