Accomplishing Modern Digital Financial Ecosystem by 2030

The Decision on the Master Architecture toward digital finance recently adopted by the Ministry of Finance, showing its determination to build a smart and modern digital finance on the roadmap toward complete digital finance by 2030. Our reporter has an interview with Dr. Nguyen Viet Hung, Deputy Director of the Financial Informatics and Statistics Department under the Ministry of Finance, on this topic. Le Hien reports

Could you please brief us on the plan for enacting Decision 2366/QD-BTC?

Decision 2366/QD-BTC on the Master Architecture toward the Digital Finance Ministry to 2030 and its roadmap for this purpose is divided into two phases.

The target for the 2021 - 2025 stage is building an electronic finance - digital finance based on data and open data. The vision of this stage is determined by the Ministry of Finance to continue to complete the construction of e-government of the finance sector toward the Digital Finance Ministry and the Service-based Finance Ministry where people and businesses are placed at the center and enhance the performance of the entire industry through digital government and digitizing tools. Therefore, at this stage, the finance sector determines its first key tasks: Transformation to application systems and information technology infrastructure. Accordingly, the sector will focus on perfecting the legal document management system, document management system and electronic single-window information system.

Besides, the finance sector will develop a digitized administration system integrated with working tools and documents of the finance industry, an integrated report modernization system; an interest rate, exchange rate and market risk management information system; a price management information system and a public debt management information system; a tax debt inspection, supervision and settlement system; and a customs inspection, supervision and settlement information system. Especially, also in this period, the finance sector will launch artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual assistants in some key professional and administrative activities of the finance industry.

Also in this stage, the sector will complete integrating all the applications with the identity and access management system and integrate with the national information technology systems toward a seamless financial management system within the Government.

The financial sector has also deployed a number of major financial information systems that play a fundamental role in State budget-finance activities such as the integrated Treasury and Budget Management Information System (TABMIS), the Centralized Tax Administration System (TMS), the Vietnam Automated Cargo and Port Consolidated System/Vietnam Customs Intelligence Information System (VNACS/VCIS), and the Debt Management and Financial Analysis System (DMFAS). In the 2021-2025 period, these core information systems of the finance sector will complete a new, fully digitized version with integrated data sharing and modern identity authentication to utilize open data and big data, integrated with many modern technologies of Industry 4.0.

Is the goal of complete digitization by 2030 too ambitious?

At the end of the 2021-2025 period and at the start of the next period of 2026-2030, the finance sector will strive to establish a fully digitized financial system and smart finance. The vision of this stage is completing information systems for building paperless offices; building a digital finance platform based on data and open data; establishing a digital finance industry ecosystem where the Government helps create and connect with parties by opening and sharing data and digital platforms to enable multiple parties to create smart financial services.

To achieve this goal, in the 2025-2030 period, transformation to software and information technology systems will be carried out with some basic tasks such as developing the sector’s decision-making support system into an important management tool.

Besides, the sector will build smart applications for professional activities; 100% of professional and operational support equipment: surveillance cameras, internet of things - based sensors (state reserves and customs warehouses), mobile devices, robots and social network data are interconnected. Data are collected, analyzed and provided with supportive services for managers and users.

As for the digital financial application store, 100% of services for people and businesses are proactively provided by many parties under a personalized model. In this stage, AI and virtual assistance will become popular in operating, formulating, planning and evaluating policies in the Ministry of Finance and provide demand-based public financial services for people and enterprises. At the same time, public financial services are used by third parties and built into new services that are provided for customers on multiple communication channels/media.

I think successfully building a modern digital financial ecosystem by 2030 is not a too ambitious goal. The finance sector has made relatively complete preparations for a legal corridor and digital infrastructure for Industry 4.0 and its digital transformation in addition to the legal corridor and infrastructure for digital transformation, including connection infrastructure, equipment infrastructure, data infrastructure, application infrastructure, and technology development infrastructure. For seven consecutive years (2013-2019), the Ministry of Finance led other agencies in the ICT Readiness Index, showing its rapid adaptation to digital transformation in Vietnam.

How well has the finance sector prepared for digital infrastructure?

To be ready to apply new technologies of Industry 4.0 and carry out digital transformation, the Ministry of Finance has carefully prepared digital infrastructure in all aspects: connection infrastructure, equipment infrastructure, data infrastructure, application infrastructure and technology development infrastructure.

Regarding connection infrastructure, the Ministry of Finance has successfully built a universal communication infrastructure for the finance sector to ensure data connection and exchange for 2,737 users to serve information technology applications across the finance sector.

Regarding equipment infrastructure, the main equipment of digital infrastructure is electronic computers, including workstations, servers and laptops. In recent years, the sector’s equipment infrastructure has been improved to deploy information technology applications across the sector. Currently, we are working on MOF Cloud Computing Platform.

Data infrastructure includes technology, processes, instructions, organization, operation, management and use of data. Building financial data infrastructure is implemented through the Project "Building a national financial database."

Technology development infrastructure is considered in the aspect of human resources. Currently, the sector has a total of 474 central IT and statistics employees. Basically, this workforce has met information system development, management and operation requirements of the sector.

Thank you very much!

Major Hoang Ngoc Duong, Deputy Director of Viettel Cyberspace Center The Government-backed “National Digital Transformation to 2025, with a vision to 2030” program clearly states that the financial and banking sector - one of the areas that impact the society and people every day - needs to be given first priority for digital transformation. With strict requirements on information, data and security management for customers, the financial and banking industry needs modern digital platforms and IT solutions of high accuracy and security. Digital transformation helps banks save costs and automate operational processes while delivering unprecedented customer experiences. The financial and banking industry is one of Viettel’s priorities to lead and enable the formation of a digital society. The platforms and solutions that Viettel provides for the financial and banking sector are applied with the most advanced and accurate technologies in the Vietnamese market today, including the following products: 1. Electronic Know Your Customer Solution (Viettel eKYC) helps customers to open bank accounts and conduct transactions online. 2. Cyberbot Virtual Assistant Solution with Callbot and Chatbot Applications act as an electronic portal that receives and answers inquiries of customers. 3. Viettel OCR Document Digitization Solution allows converting image documents into editable documents on computers and easily extracting information when needed. 4. Reputa Reputation Monitoring Solution on cyberspace helps businesses promptly handle issues that cause brand vulnerability. 5. Voice AI Solution for customer care helps record calls, analyze them and give prompt warnings concerning inappropriate content to businesses which, in turn, improve service quality and customer experience. We are holding the advantage of being a leading provider of digital transformation solutions and IT infrastructure with the highest security, especially served by our highly qualified engineers who are ready to solve difficult problems for businesses and support them to provide substantive products. Ms. Dang Tuyet Dung, Visa Country Manager for Vietnam and Laos One of the key findings is that the use of digital wallets, contactless payments via cards and smartphones, and QR code payments have all risen sharply during the pandemic. Specifically, contactless cards are leading the way in the food and dining category, with 67% of consumers having increasingly used this method in 2020. Payments via QR codes have also soared during the pandemic, expanding the increasing impact on day-to-day categories such as bill payments (71%), retail shopping (58%), and supermarkets (57%). Mobile contactless payments have gained in popularity, with the main spikes being seen in transactions for health and fitness sector (55%). In total, 88% of consumers are aware of mobile contactless payments and 45% are currently adopting this method. At Visa, we also worked with stakeholders to launch a multitude of programs for small business owners and support them to expand their operations to digital platforms. While Where You Shop Matters enabled SMEs to develop their online presence on popular eCommerce sites, the latest initiative Google Retail University in partnership with Vietnam E-commerce Association and Google offered an educational series involving digital and logistics solutions from Visa, Sapo, Haravan, EMS, Vietnam Post, etc. This series has seen outstanding outcomes with 3.800 participants. In a survey of 700 participants, 60% of whom say it has helped them to grow their business, with orders rising up to 56.7% and operation efficiency climbing at 63.3%. Visa will continue to communicate the benefits of a cashless society to Vietnamese consumers. Our plan is to deploy new payment technologies by enabling payments to be made for everyone. The Vietnamese public are quick to pick up on the latest innovations, making this an exciting market for the digital economy to thrive.

Source: Vietnam Business Forum