The Fintech Challenge Vietnam (FCV) is organized by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and the Mekong Business Initiative, the program is funded by the Government of Australia and the ADB. In addition, the Viet Nam Bankers Association (VNBA) and the Viet Nam Fintech Club (VFC) are co-organizers of the program. Program Partners include 7 commercial banks (BIDV, Vietcombank, VietinBank, Shinhan Bank, TP Bank, VIB, VP Bank) as well as FPT, Vietnam Silicon Valley, and VIISA.
The program aims to spur innovation in financial services that promote greater financial inclusion in Viet Nam, focusing on five fintech “verticals” that are critical for financial inclusion, including e-Payments, e-KYC, Peer-to-peer Lending, Open APIs, and Blockchain.
Photo: CPV
By the application closing date of January 31, 2018, FCV received 141 fintech applications, including 45 from Viet Nam and 97 from 27 countries in 5 different continents. The program successfully attracted applications in all five “verticals.”
Applications have been systematically evaluated and scored by program organizers, co-organizers and partners. Corporate and investor partners assessed each applicant based on commercial criteria (Innovation and Relevance; Management Capacity; and Scalability & Investment Readiness) while the State Bank of Vietnam, ADB, VNBA evaluated the potential impact on financial inclusion of each fintech solution.
The following 16 FCV Finalists represent the fintech applicants with highest overall scores as agreed by all the evaluators (in alphabetical order):
No. Name of Fintech Vertical Country of Origin
1 ALTERNATIVE CIRCLE LIMITED P2P lending Kenya and Mauritius
2 ATI JSC Payment Vietnam
3 Bluechain Payment Australia
4 CHEKK API Hong Kong SAR
5 Enablecode E-KYC Vietnam
6 Fin2B P2P lending Republic of Korea
7 Finsify Hub API Vietnam
8 Instant.vn P2P lending Vietnam
9 InstaReM PTE Limited API Singapore
10 Kiu Global Payment Vietnam and USA
11 Tradle Blockchain United States
12 UltraCash Technologies Payment India
13 VayMuon JSC. P2P lending Vietnam
14 Vi Mo Technology JSC. Payment Vietnam
15 WECASH E-KYC/payment China
16 Weezi Digital Corp. Payment Vietnam
Additional information about the FCV program and the Finalists can be found at fintech.mekongbiz.org.
Successful FCV applicants will present their business models in the “Showcase Pitch Day” scheduled for March 28th 2018 at the CMC Innovation Center. After this initial Pitch Day, Finalists will be matched with FCV Partners who will serve as their mentors. Finalists will participate in a six-week incubation and mentoring program that will help them to refine and sharpen their business models to fit with local market context.
In a final competitive “Finalists Pitch Session,” all of the FCV Finalists will present their financial technology solutions to a panel of banking industry players, financial experts, and potential fintech investors. Cash prizes will be awarded to the best overall fintech, and to other vertical category winners (see website for more prize details).
The best solutions will have the opportunity to demo their products and services the day before the 2018 Vietnam National Fintech Day, tentatively scheduled for May 28th 2018.
The SBV Fintech Steering Committee was established in March 2017 to enhance the financial ecosystem, including the legal framework for facilitating the development of fintech in Viet Nam.
Email: fintech@sbv.gov.vn; Website: www.sbv.gov.vn.
About the Mekong Business Initiative (MBI) – The MBI was launched in 2015 to catalyze private sector development in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) markets, focusing on Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Myanmar, and Viet Nam. The program aims to improve the business-enabling environment in these four emerging ASEAN markets with particular focus on innovation, alternative finance, and business advocacy. MBI is supported by the Government of Australia and Asian Development Bank./.