Customers fulfill loans procedures at a HDBank branch in Ha Noi's Hoan Kiem District. Experts have urged Viet Nam to implement policy and technology initiatives to improve supervision of the financial system. — VNA/VNS Photo Tran Viet

HA NOI (Biz Hub)— Experts yesterday called on the government to implement better policies and apply new technologies to shore up the nation's financial system.

Speaking at the 10th Annual Viet Nam Finance Conference themed "Reinforcing national financial supervision: Policy and technology initiatives," finance experts urged that a stronger legal framework and more advanced technology would boost economic growth.

Deputy Chairman of the National Financial Supervisory Commission (NFSC) Ha Huy Tuan said the financial market was undergoing rapid and turbulent development with many risks threatening market stability.

In spite of such trends, financial supervision in Viet Nam remains limited, particularly at the macro-level. Inadequate supervision of the financial system drew national attention during the global financial crisis in 2008 and was scheduled for improvement to safeguard the nation's financial sector.

Deputy Director of the Central Institute of Economic Management Tran Kim Chung said there was a lack of co-ordination and overlap between finance agencies, including the Ministry of Finance, the State Bank of Viet Nam, NFSC and deposit insurance agencies.

Database systems and information technology (IT) were also said to be inadequate in all three sectors of the financial system - banking, securities and insurance - causing difficulties for supervision, he said.

He added that supervision was lagging behind market development due to a lack of human and technical resources, and finance capabilities, adding that risk-based tools and improved co-ordination between relevant organisations would improve supervision.

IT solutions

According to Pham Cong Minh, Deputy Director of the Department of Financial Informatics and Statistics, improving financial supervision would involve greater monitoring of financial markets.

He said databases and software would help improve supervision, urging the establishment of a "Datacentre" to manage relevant market information.

He also stressed that the collection and monitoring of relevant data would provide early warnings for a future crisis.

According to the Director of the Department of Technology, Doan Thanh Tung, the application of IT and disclosure of stock market information had provided greater transparency for investors and enabled forecasts for market activities.

Experts at the conference highlighted that new IT solutions were consistent with the country's plans to deploy an e-Government service nationwide.

New technologies aimed at improving tax and financial services were also on display at the conference. — VNS