State Bank of Vietnam Grants License to NICE Information Service Subsidiary

📷 Vice Chairman of the Financial Services Commission Lee Eogwon and Pham Duc An, Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam

Approval Granted 10 Months After Application Plans to Enhance NPL Management, Implement EWS and FDS Service Launch Scheduled for First Half of Next Year

The Financial Services Commission announced on the 22nd that the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) issued a license for credit information service provision to NICE CI, the local Vietnamese subsidiary of NICE Information Service, on the 20th. With this, NICE CI has become the fourth credit information company to enter the Vietnamese credit information services market.

Currently, there are four credit information companies in Vietnam: PCB (since July 2013), FCBV (from December 2024), KCI (from December 2024), and now NICE CI. Vietnam is Korea’s top destination for foreign direct investment (FDI), the second most popular country for Korean tourists, and the third largest trading partner. In the financial sector, as of May, Korean financial institutions operate a total of 54 overseas branches in Vietnam, which is the second largest number after the United States (68). Recently, with the entry of KDB Hanoi Branch, IBK Vietnam, and now NICE CI, the expansion of Korean financial companies into the Vietnamese market is accelerating.

This approval for NICE CI was granted approximately 10 months after the application was submitted, indicating a swift process. In particular, the collaborative efforts of high-level meetings between Vice Chairman of the Financial Services Commission Lee Eogwon and Pham Duc An, Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, the endeavors of private companies, and the continued communication efforts of Korean diplomatic missions are credited as the key factors that led to this success.

NICE CI plans to support the advancement of data-driven proactive risk management systems for Vietnamese financial companies in the future. In particular, it will work to enhance the credit information infrastructure to strengthen non-performing loan (NPL) management capabilities, which is considered a key challenge for Vietnam’s financial sector.

Furthermore, by introducing advanced services such as an Early Warning System (EWS) and Fraud Detection System (FDS), NICE CI aims to increase the reliability of the Vietnamese financial market and is exploring ways to improve local citizens’ access to financial services by supporting the development of customized financial products. To this end, NICE CI has been preparing by recruiting specialists, establishing IT and security facilities, securing databases (DB), and developing credit evaluation models, aiming to sequentially launch services starting from the first half of next year.

Korean Language version

Source: asiae.co.kr