AI Reshaping Vietnam’s Fintech Future: A Deep Dive into Innovation

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming Vietnam’s financial technology (fintech) landscape at an unprecedented pace. During the week of May 10–16, 2025, leading fintech companies like MoMo and Cake by VPBank demonstrated that AI is not just a tool but the backbone of innovation, driving personalized user experiences, securing transactions, and revolutionizing credit risk assessment. Let’s dive into how AI is redefining fintech in Vietnam.

1. Personalizing User Experiences with AI

AI is enabling fintech super-apps like MoMo to deliver highly personalized experiences. Serving over 30 million users, MoMo integrated AI into its financial assistant Moni as part of its October 2024 rebranding campaign. Moni leverages machine learning algorithms to analyze real-time spending data, offering tailored savings or investment recommendations.

According to MoMo’s CEO Nguyễn Mạnh Tường, 70% of Vietnamese adults lack basic financial literacy, and 67% feel unconfident handling personal financial crises. AI addresses this gap by providing easy-to-understand financial advice, particularly for underserved customers outside traditional banking systems. For instance, Moni can predict cash flow and alert users to potential overspending, enhancing personal financial management.

2. Securing Transactions: AI as a Shield Against Deepfake

Cybersecurity remains a critical challenge in fintech, with deepfake attacks and transaction fraud on the rise. AI is proving to be a powerful defense mechanism.

• Real-Time Anomaly Detection: AI systems analyze millions of transactions per second, identifying irregularities such as large withdrawals from unfamiliar devices or inconsistent behavior. Cake by VPBank, for example, employs over 80 AI models to monitor transactions, automatically locking suspicious accounts within seconds to mitigate fraud risks.
   
• Combating Deepfake with Passive Liveness Detection: Cake is the first digital bank in Southeast Asia to achieve iBeta Level 2 ISO certification for its Cake Face Authen technology. This AI-driven facial recognition system analyzes eye movements, lighting, and lip synchronization in videos to detect deepfakes, achieving a 0% attack success rate and 0% rejection of legitimate users. This is crucial as new regulations, effective January 1, 2025, mandate biometric authentication for transactions exceeding 10 million VND.
   
• Robotic Process Automation (RPA): AI combined with RPA enables rapid responses to threats. Upon detecting risks, RPA can disconnect compromised systems or freeze suspicious accounts, reducing response times from minutes to seconds.
   

Associate Professor Phạm Công Hiệp from RMIT University emphasizes that Zero Trust architecture—powered by continuous AI-driven authentication—is the future of fintech cybersecurity. “AI not only detects but also predicts and prevents threats before they materialize,” he notes.

3. Credit Risk Assessment: AI Rewrites the Rules

AI is revolutionizing how fintech firms assess credit risk, unlocking opportunities for users with limited credit histories. Cake by VPBank uses deep learning models to analyze alternative data—such as bill payment patterns, transaction histories, and even app interactions. This enables Cake to approve loans or open accounts in minutes, compared to hours or days for traditional banks.

MoMo also employs AI to build dynamic credit scores, updated in real-time based on user data. This is particularly impactful as Decree 94/2025/NĐ-CP, effective July 1, 2025, allows testing of new solutions like credit scoring and peer-to-peer (P2P) lending. AI enhances accuracy while reducing operational costs, enabling fintechs to reach new customer segments.

4. The Road Ahead: AI and Vietnam’s Fintech Ecosystem

With Vietnam’s fintech sector growing as the second fastest in Asia (behind Singapore) and a market size estimated at $18 billion, AI will remain central to its evolution. Key trends include:

• Enhanced Automation: Companies like Cake and MoMo are expanding RPA and AI use to automate eKYC processes, loan approvals, and customer support, cutting operational costs by 20–30% compared to traditional banks.
   
• Market Risk Prediction: AI can analyze macroeconomic trends and user behavior to forecast credit or fraud risks, enabling fintechs to respond swiftly to market shifts.
   
• Support for Banking Sandbox: Decree 94/2025/NĐ-CP will foster AI-driven solutions like Open APIs and credit scoring, leveling the playing field for fintech startups against larger banks.
   

Challenges persist, however. Increasingly sophisticated deepfake attacks require continuous AI upgrades. Moreover, safeguarding user data in AI systems is paramount, as VNLife’s CEO Niraan De Silva notes: “Data compliance is not just a responsibility but a competitive advantage.”

Conclusion

AI is propelling Vietnam’s fintech industry to new heights, from personalizing experiences and securing transactions to transforming credit risk assessment. Companies like MoMo and Cake by VPBank are proving that AI is the foundation for sustainable innovation. With new regulations and the upcoming banking sandbox, Vietnam’s fintech future promises bold AI-driven advancements.