Vietnam Wants 95 Percent of Adults Banked by 2030

Vietnam has set one of the most ambitious financial inclusion targets in Southeast Asia. Its National Financial Inclusion Strategy for 2026 to 2030 aims for 95 percent of adults to hold transaction accounts, according to Vietnamese state coverage of the programme. That is not a slogan. The regulatory and infrastructure machinery to deliver it is already being installed.

Biometrics as the foundation

From January 2026, Vietnam made biometric identity verification mandatory for opening any new bank account or payment card. Banks must verify a customer's face either in person or through a trusted biometric database before activating any financial service. The State Bank of Vietnam's position is explicit: growth in digital banking must be anchored to higher-assurance identity verification rather than the frictionless onboarding funnels that were the competitive standard a few years ago.

The market responded. Cake Digital Bank became the first in Southeast Asia to pass iBeta Level 2 testing for face biometric spoofing detection, deploying passive liveness detection across millions of users. In a market where verification standards are mandatory and testing benchmarks are public, investing in the strongest verification is not just compliance. It is a trust signal consumers can evaluate.

Payments that cross borders

The second pillar is making digital money useful beyond Vietnam's borders. Cake by VPBank, backed by VPBank, launched a feature in 2026 letting Vietnamese users pay directly from their domestic dong accounts in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia through an interconnected cross-border network, with no foreign currency account and no cash required.

This sits inside a wider regional build-out. Thailand's PromptPay already connects through cross-border QR with Vietnam among others, according to Nation Thailand, and Project Nexus is standardising those connections across ASEAN.

Industry is mobilising

At Vietnam's Digital Finance Day 2026 in Ho Chi Minh City, banks including Vietcombank and VPBank showcased cross-border QR and single-QR merchant solutions, according to Vietnamese state media. Visa, a partner at the event, has been promoting QR-based cross-border transactions and contactless travel payments, according to Vietnam Investment Review.

Vietnam's fintech sector is also drawing capital and attention regionally. Indonesian and Vietnamese B2B payment infrastructure companies featured prominently in the Financial Times fastest-growing APAC fintech rankings, reflecting where regional investors see structural growth.

Vietnam is not choosing between growth and security. It is betting that mandatory high-assurance verification is what makes mass adoption safe enough to sustain.

What it means for foreign financial brands

The opportunity is large and the compliance baseline has risen. Any brand whose Vietnam entry plan was built around low-friction digital onboarding needs to redesign for mandatory biometric verification. Meanwhile the addressable market keeps expanding, both through the inclusion strategy and through Vietnam's broader capital market development.

The practical advice is to build verification quality into the product from the start, partner locally where distribution requires it, and communicate in Vietnamese with genuine local relevance. This is exactly where SpinDepth helps, building credible presence for financial brands entering Vietnam.

FAQs

Q1: What is Vietnam's financial inclusion target?

A1: 95 percent of adults holding transaction accounts, under the National Financial Inclusion Strategy for 2026 to 2030.

Q2: Is biometric verification mandatory in Vietnam?

A2: Yes. From January 2026, banks must verify a customer's face in person or via a trusted biometric database before activating any new account or card.

Q3: Can Vietnamese users pay abroad from local accounts?

A3: Cake by VPBank launched a feature allowing payment in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia directly from domestic dong accounts.

Q4: What should foreign fintechs prepare for?

A4: A higher verification compliance baseline, local partnership requirements, and Vietnamese-language product and communication.

For brands entering Vietnam, high-assurance verification is the entry ticket, and that is exactly where SpinDepth helps brands show up.

Source:

Source 1: Vietnam.vn, From international payments to cross-border money transfers

Source 2: Vietnam Investment Review, Visa backs Digital Finance Day 2026

Source 3: Nation Thailand, Thailand's Digital Payment Revolution

Source 4: Fintech News Singapore, Fastest-Growing Asia Pacific Fintechs 2026