A few days ago the National Bank announced that it will approve Peer to Peer Lending. This comes as little surprise since there are already 40 companies operating in the sector in Vietnam and the activity has been neither approved nor prohibited up to this time.
P2P Lending is a method of lending that skips the traditional banks. It is a way for lenders to connect directly with borrowers via an online portal such as go fund me and other sites that take money from investors and give it to entrepreneurs.
As this activity is already well advanced in Vietnam this does not mark a new turning point for technology or the regulatory atmosphere, but it does make known the attitude of the government concerning the activity of P2P lending.
This is a positive step in the right direction, though, as it comes on the heels of other, less obvious attempts to open the country to technology and commerce in a large way.
You can access the original story in Vietnamese here. Or look at Wikipedia’s page on p2p lending here.
