Hanoi (VNA) – The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) andcredit institutions are set to augment efforts in the coming time so as topromote people and businesses’ access to credit.

At a teleconference on June 17, SBV DeputyGovernor Dao Minh Tu said administrative reforms have helped people andenterprises access financial – banking information and services in a moretransparent and equal manner. By accessing bank loans more easily, production andbusiness activities have been enhanced.

Additionally, the elimination of businessconditions has also helped the central bank minimise time and personnel neededto handle administrative procedures, he said, noting the removal of monetary,credit and banking obstacles has also helped the monetary market and bankingactivities operate more smoothly and created conditions for the SBV to governthe monetary policy more efficiently.

Tu added that to credit institutions, thepressure for administrative reforms and business climate improvement in themonetary – banking sector is momentum for them to improve their operations andspeed up the banking system’s restructuring and non-performing loan settlement.

Most of banks have strongly invested ininformation technology to develop online products and provide many new modernand convenient services for different client segments.

The official said in the time ahead, the SBVwill increase IT application in its activities, upgrade the national paymentinfrastructure to facilitate the development of new payment services, and applynew e-payment technologies like QR code, Tokenization, mobile payment andcontactless payment.

Meanwhile, credit institutions are expected tokeep improving their financial capacity and continue measures to manage creditquality, reduce non-performing loans and better asset quality.

The Deputy Governor said all administrativeprocedures of the SBV have been carried out under the ISO 9001:2008 standards,thus ensuring transparency and facilitating organisations and individuals’monitoring of the administrative procedure handling process.

In 2018, credit institutions actively cut downlending interest rates to support businesses and offered nearly 100 creditprogrammes and products providing soft loans, including 15 for small- andmedium-sized enterprises and startups. They also decreased a number of fees andupgraded their technological systems to meet firms’ e-commerce demand.-VNA