Within the framework of their business trip in Singapore, Da Nang Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Van Quang and some of the city’s officials recently visited and worked with United Overseas Bank (UOB), ANZ Bank and OUE Group.

UOB representatives expressed their interest in the Da Nang International Financial Centre project. They also highly praised Da Nang for its strategic location, good infrastructure, and attractive investment environment that are considered key factors for successfully building an international financial centre.

UOB suggested Da Nang facilitate foreign banks to participate in the international financial ecosystem here, such as building a transparent and favourable legal framework, developing modern financial facilities and green finance, and having incentive policies to attract high-quality human resources.

Being is a leading bank in Asia with a global network of more than 500 offices in 19 countries and territories in Asia Pacific, Western Europe and North America, UOB affirms its commitment to the Vietnamese market, especially after completing the acquisition of Citigroup's consumer banking business in Viet Nam in early 2023.

UOB's interest is a positive signal that Da Nang is becoming an attractive destination for international financial investors.

Da Nang and UOB Group representatives posing for a group photo

At the working session with OUE - Singapore's leading multi-industry group operating in the fields of real estate, hotels, retail and health care, Secretary Quang introduced the development potential of Da Nang, with focus on the growth scale, large space for land and infrastructure development, modern infrastructure, good planning, and orientation to develop into a green, smart, innovative and service urban centre of Asia.

With the number of visitors in 2024 reaching 12 million, including 5 million international visitors, Da Nang is aiming to develop the tourism industry associated with healthcare, a field suitable for the strengths of OUE Group.

Mr. Quang took the opportunity to call on OUE Group to invest in Da Nang, as well as take advantage of the similarities between Da Nang and Singapore in terms of location, coastline and quality of life to attract high-quality human resources.

In reply, OUE representatives showed their keen interest in the Da Nang International Financial Centre project, especially policies to attract financial companies, legal framework, international connectivity through submarine optical cables, and IT human resource development. They also emphasised the need for the city to build a comprehensive financial ecosystem, focusing not only on infrastructure but also on tax policies, legal framework and international connectivity.

Da Nang is aiming to develop green finance and technology finance, and facilitate capital flows in the financial centre. The city is preparing both hard and soft infrastructure, including modern telecommunications infrastructure with two submarine optical cables, 5G network coverage, and high indicators of digital government and digital economy.

OUE highly appreciated Da Nang's potential but also stated that extensive consultation is needed to finalise the financial centre project because many international partners currently only know Da Nang as a tourist destination.

Secretary of the Da Nang Party Committee Nguyen Van Quang (right) and representative of ANZ Bank.

During his meeting with ANZ Bank, a large regional bank headquartered in Singapore, Secretary Quang expressed his desire to hear ANZ's comments on models of the Financial Centre and Free Trade Zone in Da Nang.

He introduced the operating mechanism of the financial centre in Vietnam, emphasizing the living environment advantages of Da Nang compared to other cities.

Da Nang has invested in high-tech infrastructure and has policies to support investment in data centres. Da Nang is proud to be the city with the best information technology infrastructure in Viet Nam, with a 5G network covering the entire city, modern submarine fiber optic cables, and a strong information technology workforce of 30,000 experts. The city plans to train more human resources for the semiconductor and artificial intelligence industries, he added.

A working session between the Da Nang delegation and ANZ Bank in progress. Photo: WORKING DELEGATION

Da Nang has planned areas for clean energy, offshore energy exploitation and liquefied natural gas (LNG) energy, and included them in the Government's planning to ensure power supply for data centres and other industries.

ANZ representatives recognised Da Nang's great potential in terms of infrastructure, resources and energy. However, the bank also emphasised the importance of ensuring a stable energy supply to catch up with investment capital flows.

ANZ underlined the need for the city to continue to enhance investment promotion activities to affirm its position as a potential financial and technology centre of the region.

Reporting by Working delegation - Translating by M.DUNG,PTRA