Building an International Financial Center: Human Resources as a Key Factor

Photo caption

A corner of Ho Chi Minh City. Illustration photo: Ngoc Ha/VNA

The international financial center being promoted in Vietnam is expected to be very attractive to investors. However, to operate effectively, many opinions say that the quality of human resources will be the key factor, deciding the quality of the international financial center.

The National Assembly Resolution clearly states: The international financial center is an area with defined geographical boundaries established by the Government located in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang City, focusing on a diverse ecosystem of financial services and support services.

The international financial center is built on the basis of unified operations, management and supervision; has a separate product development orientation, promoting the strengths of each city; ensures fairness and mutual support, aiming to become a leading international financial center, raising Vietnam's position in the global financial network, associated with economic growth momentum.

The Resolution stipulates specific policies for the development of international financial centers in Vietnam, focusing on foreign exchange, banking activities, tax incentives, development of capital markets, finance, land, labor, employment, etc., as well as policies for controlled testing of financial services applying technology (fintech) and innovation, and development of various types of markets and commodity exchanges.

Currently, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang have focused on preparing work to build, develop and operate the financial center such as: arranging human resources, building training programs for highly specialized human resources, management team; at the same time, prepare facilities and infrastructure for construction and development; promoting investment, contacting strategic and potential investors...

According to the Government, the financial center is a new, difficult and unprecedented issue in Vietnam. In practice, there will be problems arising that are different from the laws, resolutions and ordinances of the National Assembly and the National Assembly Standing Committee. Therefore, in addition to building mechanisms and policies for the financial center, preparing infrastructure and human resources of the two cities is a key factor in the success of the financial center in Vietnam.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Tran Hoang Ngan (Ho Chi Minh City), only with a team of highly specialized and internationally minded personnel can the Financial Center operate effectively and sustainably. "To be successful, people must be one step ahead. Not only do we need talented personnel in finance or technology, but we also need people with an international vision, creative thinking and the ability to accept risks to innovate," Mr. Ngan emphasized.

In reality, Ho Chi Minh City shows that the existing resources still cannot meet this requirement. The number of workers with specialized skills in areas such as financial technology, blockchain technology or international financial management is still limited, making it difficult for the city to compete with leading financial centers such as Singapore or Hong Kong (China).

According to Ms. Tran Minh Huong, Director of Human Resources at Standard Chartered Bank Vietnam, human resources are one of the biggest "bottlenecks" in the process of building a financial center in Vietnam. "An international financial center requires much more complex financial products and activities than traditional commercial banks. Therefore, human resources need to have extensive knowledge and practical experience in areas such as investment banking, capital markets, derivatives trading, risk management, and international finance. These are skills that the current labor market in Vietnam is still seriously lacking," Ms. Huong said.

To realize the aspiration of becoming an international financial center, in addition to geographical location, infrastructure system or preferential policies... it is time to have a systematic, long-term and synchronous strategy in developing international financial human resources. This human resource must not only stop at the level of keeping up, but must strive to compete with the leading financial centers in the region and the world.

Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Hoang Ngan pointed out that the human resource pillar has been and is being focused on by the City. Ho Chi Minh City has a very early developed commercial banking system, from 1987 until now. Next is the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, which was also established in 2000, with 25 years of experience; Along with that, Universities are focusing on training many students in this field. Thus, Vietnam has an abundant human resources in the financial sector. This is an advantage for the establishment of an international financial center.

Mr. Truong Minh Huy Vu, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Research and Development, proposed a comprehensive strategy for developing international financial human resources; in which, emphasizing solutions to build open immigration policies to attract high-quality financial personnel from other countries. That is, it is necessary to have an attractive ecosystem with clear incentive policies, a modern living environment...

Many economic experts also believe that human resources for the Financial Center not only need to have extensive financial expertise but also need to be well-trained with international certificates such as: global finance, global auditor, global financial risk management... In addition, technology skills (fintech, AI, blockchain, big data, cybersecurity), foreign language skills, cross-cultural communication and global thinking are also mandatory requirements.

“Developing a generation of global human resources who can compete fairly in the international market will be the decisive factor in making Ho Chi Minh City a true financial center in the near future,” said Human Resources Director Tran Minh Huong.

On the local side, recently, a memorandum of understanding between Da Nang city and the consortium of Terne Holdings and The One Destination was signed to focus on key areas of cooperation such as: coordinated research, suggested specific and outstanding policy mechanisms to develop the Vietnam International Financial Center in Da Nang associated with green finance, financial technology and trade finance; coordinating and supporting Da Nang city officials to study experience and intern at major international financial centers in the world.

Along with specific policies applied in the Financial Center, Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang said: In the process of developing the Resolution, the Government has also recognized the risks of establishing the above-mentioned trading floors and trading platforms, which also pose some risks of being exploited to legalize illegal cash flows through buying and selling the above products; risks of speculation, price inflation, creating asset bubbles... uncertainty, it is necessary to build a synchronous legal framework; a strict, transparent, systematic monitoring institution, according to international standards to control transactions on the floor. The Government will continue to study specific regulations to include in the guiding Decree.

Prof. Dr. Hoang Van Cuong, former Vice President of the National Economics University, expects that the regulations will be implemented soon, and Vietnam will become a new generation international financial center. "Vietnam's international financial center was built later, so it must apply a system of open and international legal regulations. The institution for Vietnam's international financial center must be truly superior to be on par with the international institutions of centers such as Dubai or Astana," said Mr. Cuong.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/lanh-te/xay-dung-trung-tam-tai-chinh-quoc-te-yeu-to-then-chot-nguon-nhan-luc-20250704140404550.htm