Huỳnh Bửu Quang, CEO of Deutsche Bank Vietnam. — Photo Courtesy of Deutsche Bank Vietnam

By the end of 2025, the Government aims for International Financial Centres (IFC) in HCM City and Đà Nẵng to become operational, creating a breakthrough in attracting financial resources and contributing to economic and social development. The Government and HCM City are making efforts to fulfill their plan in a timely manner. Huỳnh Bửu Quang, CEO of Deutsche Bank Vietnam, talks about the IFC amid the city merging with former Bình Dương and Bà Rịa – Vũng Tàu provinces.

Will the expansion of urban space help HCM City reposition itself as a “mega-region for finance, technology and logistics” and what model do you think the city should follow?

Expanding urban space is a crucial prerequisite for HCM City to have enough land funds and infrastructure to develop key sectors. However, the condition of being "sufficient" must involve a long-term planning vision, along with policies to attract investment and modern governance mechanisms for the financial, technology, and logistics fields to operate cohesively. Only then can HCM City truly become a "super region" with national and regional influence.

The optimal development model of each financial centre will depend on the geographical location of that centre. HCM City, after the merger, has many geographical advantages that many other financial centres in the world do not have. With its current geographical advantages, HCM City can entirely develop into a financial-technology-logistics-education-creative-sustainable development centre for the entire country.

However, to have enough resources to develop in this direction, it is necessary to re-plan the focus areas for each sector. For example, the seaport system should be relocated and concentrated for development in the Cái Mép area, connected to logistics centres arranged along the city's beltways, and a diverse, multi-tiered road transport network developed to ensure quick and efficient traffic flow.

City management needs to be entirely digitised. HCM City is already the financial centre of the country; if combined with a fully digitised management system and data, it will drive digital technology development, AI innovation, promote high-quality education, and sustainable development.

What is the city’s biggest weakness in linking institutions, infrastructure and urban development and how can HCM City ensure its financial centre is not only a “destination for capital” but also a “source of creativity”?

The weakness is lack of connectivity and coherence.

For example, bridges are built but roads are delayed, or newly finished streets are dug up again for utilities. Metro projects take over a decade. Without synchronisation, costs rise and the city becomes less attractive.

If the city develops into a hub for finance, technology, logistics, education, innovation and sustainability, it will naturally generate creative value.

From an international financier’s perspective, what is the most important criterion for a regional financial centre?

The most important things are transparency, fairness and stability. Financial institutions look first at transparent, fair and consistent policies, followed by macroeconomic stability, the size of the economy and fiscal strength.

Infrastructure is important, but policy planning is even more critical. Positioning policies to compete regionally and attract reputable international investors should come first.

What conditions are needed to attract “anchor tenants”?

We will need to progress step by step.

The first step is to have attractive policies to draw in multinational organisations or enterprises to establish offices in the HCM City IFC. Currently, many multinational organisations and enterprises already have operations in HCM City specifically and in Việt Nam in general.

What can attract them to open additional offices in the HCM City IFC?

Clearly, there must be significant policy differences. Foreign investors will only establish offices in the IFC Vietnam if they can carry out business activities that they cannot conduct without a presence here, and those activities generate financially appealing results for them.

In reality, foreign investors do not participate in the IFC Vietnam to conduct business activities in other countries. They engage to better access the Vietnamese market.

When the scale and effectiveness of business operations of multinational organisations or enterprises in Việt Nam reach a crucial level in the region, they will consider using Việt Nam as a regional management centre.

Currently, some multinational enterprises are already using Việt Nam as a regional business management centre for the ASEAN market, and even the Asia-Pacific region.

Thủ Thiêm was once expected to be the “Pudong of HCM City” but progress has lagged. How should the mindset be reset?

Pudong thrived thanks to Shanghai’s and China’s economic power, not just its land. Thủ Thiêm’s large undeveloped area offers potential, but that alone is not enough. The core of a financial centre is not skyscrapers, but policies and mechanisms that attract investors and talent worldwide.

Since the Government has designated HCM City as an international financial centre, policies must be liberal and competitive with other regional hubs. Without attractive and practical mechanisms, success will be hard to achieve.

International Financial Centres (IFC) will be developed in HCM City. — Photo kinhtetieudung.vn

If you could propose one single policy, what would it be?

Fully digitise all administrative procedures and databases, ensuring all agencies operate in sync so businesses and citizens know exactly when tasks will be completed.

Which is the greater risk: lack of a breakthrough model, or excessive expectations but weak execution?

As the saying goes, “The devil is in the details.” The bigger risk is weak execution capacity. — VNS