87% Financial Inclusion in Vietnam: What It Means for Climate-Smart Farming and Responsible e-Wallet Adoption

Editor’s Note:

This article examines how Vietnam’s rapid leap to 87% financial inclusion and a booming digital payments landscape, with non-cash payments now valued at 26 times national GDP can be harnessed to accelerate climate-smart, smallholder-centered agriculture. Framed around Koltiva’s participation at the Swiss–Viet Economic Forum 2025, featuring CEO & Co-Founder Manfred Borer presenting KoltiPay’s responsible e-wallet and data-backed lending model, it connects national-level digital finance progress with the practical realities faced by rural producers. Grounded in KoltiPay’s experience linking verified traceability data with inclusive financial services, the article offers policymakers, financial institutions, and agri-businesses a concrete roadmap for turning Vietnam’s agri-digital momentum into resilient livelihoods, greener value chains, and scalable climate action.

Executive Summary

• Vietnam’s agriculture sector supports nearly one-third of the country’s workforce and has undergone a remarkable financial transformation. In 2019, only 24.6% of rural adults had access to bank account. That figure has increased to 87% in present time, with cashless payments growing by more than 50% year-on-year, establishing Vietnam as one of ASEAN’s most dynamic and fast-growing digital economies (VietnamPlus, 2025; World Bank, 2019).

• This financial transformation, driven by rapid growth in digital payments, mirrors progress seen in strong markets like Indonesia. While macro-level indicators are strong, the challenge remains in translating this momentum to the grassroots level by providing smallholders with the data-backed credit and services needed for sustainable, climate-smart agriculture.

• As Vietnam expands its digital finance ecosystem, KoltiPay can be the financial solution supporting this growth. During SVEF 2025, CEO and Co-Founder of KOLTIVA, Manfred Borer showcased how the platform’s transparent payments and verified data-backed lending can empower smallholders and strengthen responsible financing nationwide following the successful KoltiPay implementation in Indonesia.

Digital Finance for Sustainable Growth

Vietnam’s agricultural sector remains integral to national development. While its contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) declined to around 15.5% in 2019, the sector continues to support the livelihoods of its people, providing employment for around one-third of the population (ADB, 2022). The sector underpins the country's food security and strong export competitiveness, with Vietnam among the world's largest exporters of rice, coffee, pepper, and aquaculture products.

The World Bank’s 2019 Vietnam Agriculture Finance Diagnostic Report painted a challenging picture: low financial literacy, insufficient collateral, and limited access to credit restricted the transition to value-added and climate-smart agriculture. Only 24.6% of rural adults held an account at a financial institution, and just 2.3% used mobile banking, a figure far below the regional average of 68.7%. Meanwhile, only 9.7% had ever borrowed to invest in a farm or business. Weak data systems and fragmented market information further eroded confidence among lenders and buyers, slowing the country’s modernization efforts (World Bank, 2019).

Today, Vietnam is emerging as one of ASEAN’s fastest-growing digital economies. Key shifts include:

• 87% adult financial account ownership

• Non-cash payments valued at 26 times the national GDP

• QR payments growing 81% in the first quarter of 2025 alone

(VietnamPlus, 2025)

These milestones reflect strong government direction, robust digital infrastructure, and high consumer trust. As Vietnam builds on this momentum and strengthens the foundations of its digital economy, broader structural reforms are advancing in parallel. The upcoming International Financial Centers in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang are expected to deepen financial integration, attract foreign investment, and fuel SME-driven, export-oriented growth. These milestones reflect strong government leadership, a solid digital infrastructure, and high consumer trust. As Vietnam builds on this momentum and deepens the foundations of its digital economy, broader structural reforms are progressing in parallel, including the establishment of International Financial Centers (IFCs) in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang. This initiative is a strategic move to accelerate economic growth, enhance integration into global value chains, and advance Vietnam’s transition toward a service-oriented, knowledge-driven economy.

By developing IFCs, the government aims to position Vietnam as a regional hub for investment, finance, and technological innovation, aligned with its broader push for digital transformation and global integration. With national systems rapidly modernizing, the next priority is translating this progress to the grassroots, ensuring smallholders gain access to data-driven financial services that boost productivity, traceability, and long-term resilience.

The trajectory parallels Indonesia’s digital finance evolution, where e-wallet adoption surged to 56% by 2023 and more than 300 million mobile money accounts transformed rural commerce (Market Research Indonesia, 2025). Vietnam is now on a similar path, combining policy commitment with dynamic fintech partnerships.

Additionally, as financial ecosystems expand, digital payments and data-driven lending are becoming powerful enablers of climate-smart agriculture, linking incentives to verified sustainable practices and creating greater transparency across value chains. This makes the need for financial solutions grounded in verified data increasingly urgent, particularly for the smallholder communities that form the backbone of Vietnam’s agricultural economy.

Responsible eWallet for Rural Areas, KoltiPay, Scaling Inclusion and Climate Action

The Responsible e-Wallet feature like KoltiPay, is a key driver of financial inclusion in rural supply chains, ensuring that smallholders gain access to transparent, secure, and accountable digital financial services. Designed with safeguards that verify farm data, transaction history, and productivity records, this feature prevents over-lending, supports fair credit scoring, and promotes responsible borrowing behaviors.

Integrated within technology ecosystem Koltiva, this Responsible e-Wallet strengthens a closed-loop system where payments, credit, and input financing flow through a traceable and farmer-centric model. Firstly introduced in Vietnam through the GRAFT Challenge 2021, KoltiPay introduced a Responsible e-Wallet that enables transparent digital payments, data-backed credit assessments, and access to sustainable input financing.

In Indonesia, KoltiPay has already empowered thousands of producers, cooperatives, and Multi-Financial Institution, to transition from cash to digital transactions by improving financial literacy and unlocking sustainability-linked financing. In one landscape, the integrated KoltiPay–KoltiTrace system links individual producers (into a single data pipeline, with every transaction connected to mapped forest areas, farm polygons, and deforestation alerts, enabling financial institutions to verify that financed volumes are traceable and deforestation-free while meeting green SME finance and ESG compliance requirements. As Vietnam’s fintech ecosystem matures, Koltiva is now expanding KoltiPay’s reach to replicate this data-driven model for the country’s growing network of producers and agri-enterprises.

By bridging traceability, financial inclusion, and environmental accountability, KoltiPay demonstrates how digital innovation can turn verified data into trusted finance and trusted finance into measurable climate action.

From Concept to Actualisation: Koltiva at Swiss Viet Economic Forum 2025

The shift toward data-verified, inclusive finance set the stage for Koltiva’s presence at the Swiss–Viet Economic Forum 2025, where global leaders gathered to explore how innovation can strengthen Vietnam’s sustainable growth. Held from 3–5 November in Da Nang, Vietnam, under the theme “Innovative Partnerships for Sustainable Growth,” the forum gathered businesses leaders, government institutions, and development partners to explore how digital transformation and financial innovation can support Vietnam’s sustainable development priorities. Co-organized by the Da Nang People’s Committee, the Embassy of Switzerland in Vietnam, and the Swiss–Viet Economic Forum Organization, the event convened business leaders, policymakers, and innovators from across ASEAN to advance dialogue on digital transformation, inclusive finance, and resilient growth.

Represented by Manfred Borer (CEO & Co-Founder), Olivier Barents (Senior Head of Market – APAC), Hubert Drabik (Regional Product Delivery Manager) and Lily Tran (Business Development Lead), Koltiva shared its commitment to building inclusive, traceable, and climate-smart supply chains. During the Fintech & Digital Finance Innovation panel on 4 November, Manfred presented KoltiPay’s closed-loop financing ecosystem, a solution that integrates digital traceability, financial inclusion, and capacity building to empower smallholder producers.

Beyond the panel discussions, Koltiva also took part in several B2G and B2B matchmaking meetings arranged by the forum. These short but strategic exchanges also included bilateral meetings with representatives from Cà Mau Province, Vietnam’s major aquaculture-producing region, and Huế City where discussions centered on how Koltiva’s sustainable agriculture and traceability solutions can support local government priorities for agricultural modernization and export readiness. Moreover, Koltiva also engaged with ISO-SCT Vietnam, a certification and inspection company specializing in export compliance, to explore how integrated digital traceability and farm-level data can strengthen certification management and help producers and cooperatives meet international export standards. These dialogues underscored the growing demand among Vietnamese institutions and enterprises for data-driven tools that enhance quality assurance, compliance, and market access for agricultural producers.

In conjunction with these engagements, Koltiva and the Swiss–Viet Economic Forum also formalised a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), establishing a collaborative, non-binding partnership to advance sustainable agriculture, supply chain transparency, and digital transformation in Vietnam. The MoU outlines cooperation in joint forums and knowledge exchange, innovation and investment facilitation, the promotion of inclusive finance, and mutual visibility through participation in each other’s events. Under this agreement, Koltiva commits to contributing its data-driven expertise, digital platforms, and on-the-ground presence across more than 25 provinces, while SVEF leverages its broad network of Swiss and Vietnamese institutions, businesses, and investors—strengthening bilateral cooperation and supporting Vietnam’s green growth and digital transformation priorities.

Through its model, Koltiva demonstrated how smallholders can build digital credit histories, access formal loans, and invest in sustainable production, creating measurable impact across rural economies. The forum marked a meaningful milestone in strengthening Koltiva’s partnerships in Vietnam and reaffirmed its mission to turn sustainability concepts into action through innovative, data-driven ecosystems that benefit both people and the planet.

Author: Carlene Putri Darius, Marketing Communication

Editor: Daniel Agus Prasetyo, Head of Public Relations and Corporate Communications

Carlene Putri Darius is a Marketing Communications Officer at KOLTIVA with passion in sustainability and innovation, Carlene Putri Darius integrates her expertise in technology, marketing, and strategy to promote responsible and inclusive growth. With over three years of experience in consulting, branding, and digital communications, she crafts narratives that connect innovation, sustainability, and social impact for international audiences.

Resources

• Asian Development Bank. (2022). Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development Sector Assessment, Strategy and Road Map—Viet Nam 2021–2025.  https://www.adb.org/documents/viet-nam-2021-2025-agriculture-sector-assessment-strategy-road-map 

• Market Research Indonesia. (2025, March 16). Digital Wallets in Indonesia: Digital Payment Adoption Explained. Market Research Indonesia. https://marketresearchindonesia.com/insights/articles/digital-wallets-indonesia-digital-payment-adoption-explained

• VietnamPlus. (2025, October 13). Vietnam moves to shape future of digital payments. Vietnam News Agency. https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnam-moves-to-shape-future-of-digital-payments-post330388.vnp

• World Bank. (2019). Vietnam Agriculture Finance Diagnostic Report: Financial Inclusion Support Framework—Country Support Program. https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/884321587357455934/pdf/Vietnam-Agriculture-Finance-Diagnostic-Report-Financial-Inclusion-Support-Framework-Country-Support-Program.pdf