The announcement was made by Truong Minh Huy Vu, vice-chairman of the HCM City People's Committee, during a session titled “International financial centres: How to attract global capital” at the 2026 Autumn Economic Forum (AEF 2026) on October 27.
Truong Minh Huy Vu, vice-chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee (Photo: Organising committee).
Vu said that in the new context, financial resources involve not only money flows but also new operating methods, models, approaches and ways of doing business. This is one reason Vietnam has chosen to develop the Vietnam International Financial Centre (VIFC), with locations in HCM City and Danang.
The legal frameworks related to VIFC have now been completed, and the centre has admitted its first 10 members in the form of holding companies, which own shares or equity stakes to control other businesses. Vu said the next priorities were developing investment funds and fund management activities.
“In November, HCM City is expected to issue procedures and regulations for admitting investment funds. These funds will be divided into three tiers, aligned with models in Singapore, Dubai and Hong Kong (China). This will enable the mobilisation of different sources of capital,” Vu said.
Under this approach, VIFC in HCM City and Danang will serve not only as hubs for financial institutions but also as channels directing capital into the real economy. Initially, VIFC-HCMC will focus on mobilising funds for the development of greater HCM City and the southeastern region, while VIFC in Danang will target greater Danang and central Vietnam.
Building on the initial models, the two centres will continue expanding their specialised offerings to accelerate capital mobilisation and allocation.
From the regulatory perspective, Dao Thanh Huong, deputy director of the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Finance, said VIFC was designed as one centre with two destinations in HCM City and Danang, each with complementary functions.
HCM City is expected to focus on traditional and specialised financial products serving substantial capital needs, including bond issuance, asset management and fundraising for key projects. Danang, meanwhile, will target innovative finance, technology applications and new financial products.
Huong said this division of responsibilities was intended to create a complementary financial ecosystem, making VIFC more attractive to foreign investors and international financial institutions. However, developing the centre would be a long-term process requiring coordinated legal frameworks, operating mechanisms and financial products.
A view of central Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: DT).
For 2026-2027, the executive council and operating bodies in the two cities are selecting priority product groups. Immediate priorities include financing major projects and key infrastructure, issuing corporate and project bonds, and attracting investment funds, fund management companies and asset management firms.
Figures presented at an investment promotion conference in August showed that, after about six months of operation, VIFC-HCMC had recorded around USD 20 billion in capital commitments from domestic and foreign investors and partners. These included USD 6.1 billion in aviation finance and around USD 2 billion for smart urban data infrastructure.
A VIFC-HCMC representative said the figures reflected committed capital and potential fundraising, rather than funds already disbursed.