Manufacturing, IT and high-tech industries form a large and fast-growing part of the national economy in Vietnam. Though the country is a relative newcomer to the oil industry, it is currently the third-largest oil producer in Southeast Asia.

Vietnam is now the 28th largest market for eCommerce with a revenue of US$6 billion in 2020, placing it ahead of Denmark and behind Finland. With an increase of 51%, the Vietnamese eCommerce market contributed to the worldwide growth rate of 29% in 2020.

Whilst Vietnam went through much economic turbulence in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, for the fintech sector, the pandemic presented an opportunity as the increase in distance commerce came hand in hand with an increase in the use of cashless payments and e-finance.

From only 0.4% in 2018, Vietnam rose to rank second in ASEAN in 2019 in terms of fintech funding, attracting 36% of the regional investment, second only to Singapore with 51%. However, the financial areas transformed by fintech are quite limited, with 98% of the funding concentrated in the payment sector and 1% in blockchain tech related, according to a joint report by United Overseas Bank (UOB), PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and (Singapore FinTech Association) SFA.

In the case of cryptocurrencies, the issuance, distribution and use of cryptocurrencies are illegal in Vietnam, though regulators are currently working on a new regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies.