Ho Chi Minh City financial centre expects fund rules in November
The centre has admitted its first 10 members, while planned investment fund rules would introduce a three-tier classification.
Rules and procedures for investment funds seeking admission to Vietnam’s international financial centre are expected in November, Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Vice Chairman Truong Minh Huy Vu said at the Autumn Economic Forum 2026 on October 27.
Vu said the legal framework for the centre’s operations was complete. Its Ho Chi Minh City arm, VIFC-HCMC, had accepted an initial group of 10 members operating as holding companies. The city’s next priorities would be rules covering investment funds and fund management.
The proposed framework would divide funds into three tiers, drawing on approaches used in Singapore, Dubai and Hong Kong. Vu said the centre’s purpose extended beyond financial activity to directing capital towards the real economy.
Initially, VIFC-HCMC would concentrate on bringing together financial resources for development in the expanded Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam’s southeastern region, he said.
Marc Knapper, a former US ambassador to Vietnam who chairs Knapper Global Advisors and advises VIFC-HCMC, said Vietnam needed to establish how the centre would fit into its long-term economic strategy. He said the country’s ambition to reach high-income status by 2045 would require substantial financing for economic development, energy and the wider economic transition.
