The Lord Mayor of London, Professor Michael Mainelli, visited Vietnam from September 16 - 19 to set out the UK’s support for a new international financial centre (IFC) to be developed in the country.

This is the first official visit to Vietnam by the Lord Mayor of the City of London in a decade.

The IFC development was the lead topic at every meeting held between the Lord Mayor of the City of London and Vietnam’s financial services experts and leaders.

The UK is the second largest exporter of financial services in the world, exporting £88.7 billion ($117.8 billion) in 2022. London, the UK’s financial centre, hosts 170 foreign banks and branches.

The UK also is home to 1,600 fintech companies and accounts for 38 per cent of global foreign-exchange trading.

During his 4-day visit, the Lord Mayor met with a range of government partners focused on the IFC’s design to discuss Vietnam’s approach and share British insights. He was warmly welcomed by leaders of the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and the Ministry of Finance (MOF).

He was accompanied  by representatives from TheCityUK, who have been working closely with the Vietnamese government for nearly a year, providing recommendations and capacity building to support Vietnam to have an IFC designed to reflect its dynamic and fast-moving economy.

“I am delighted to have visited Vietnam, a nation brimming with opportunity in financial services and technology as I saw firsthand in meetings with Government officials and business leaders," Lord Mayor Michael Mainelli said. "As the first Lord Mayor to visit Vietnam in 10 years, this visit marks the UK’s strong ambition to partner more closely in financial services with Vietnam and ASEAN more widely. I look forward to the exciting collaboration to come between Vietnam’s new international financial centre and the Square Mile.”

Notably, green finance is central to achieving Vietnam’s ambition to be net zero by 2050. Throughout his visit, the Lord Mayor reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to support Vietnam to achieve its net zero goals.

In December 2022, the UK contributed to a financial package of $15.5 billion through the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) to help Vietnam deliver its net zero commitment by 2050. In addition to funding, British experts and world-leading businesses stand ready to support Vietnam in their next steps through the green transition in sectors such as offshore wind.

In addition, digitalisation is at the forefront of how businesses trade internationally and how consumers access services. Digitally delivered services represented around 79 per cent of all services exports to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) countries in 2021. AI is the cornerstone of increasing efficiency and quality of services, with significant opportunities for Vietnam to enhance the adoption and benefits of AI in key sectors like education and healthcare.

Accordingly, the Lord Mayor discussed the potential of AI in digitally delivered services with Vietnam’s tech company, MoMo, as well as how to approach regulations to promote innovation with the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST). 

He also explored the opportunity for closer trading relations between the UK and Vietnam throughout his engagements with the Industry and Trade Ministry (MoIT) and business leaders from HSBC, Standard Chartered, Dragon Capital and Astra Zeneca.

Vietnam and the UK have a thriving bilateral trade relationship which has doubled over the last decade from £3 to £6 billion ($4 to $7.9 billion) by the first quarter of 2024. On 15 December, CPTPP will come into force for both countries, thus creating an opportunity for increased access to British services and making it easier for experts to travel between each other’s countries to do business.

In the meeting with the Lord Mayor, Ms. Michelle Wee, CEO of Standard Chartered Vietnam shared that as a UK-headquartered bank with over 120 years of presence in Vietnam, Standard Chartered is pleased to have been a witness and a contributor to the UK – Vietnam relation. "We see tremendous opportunities for UK – Vietnam collaboration in areas such as green finance, education, digital innovation, she added. “Standard Chartered is committed to helping unlock this potential, supporting sustainable growth and fostering further economic ties between the UK and Vietnam.”

Mr. Dominic Scriven, Chairman of Dragon Capital, also commented that as Vietnam embarks on its green finance journey, closer collaboration with the UK will be key to achieving the country’s net zero ambitions and fostering a resilient financial ecosystem. “We are grateful that our British roots, combined with thirty years of operations in Vietnam, have positioned us to support the implementation of Vietnam’s financial infrastructure and sustainable initiatives," he said.