š Quick Take: Vietnamās Green Shoots
Vietnam is attracting some of the stickier investments that Indonesia has been trying to win over.
Vietnamās political system is relatively stable and its government has been laying the groundwork to woo long-term investors.
However, itās not all smooth sailing as Hanoi has to manage the risks in the property and banking sectors.
Vietnam is attracting some of the stickier investments that its Southeast Asian neighbour, Indonesia, has been trying to win over.
G42 ā which is backed by Abu Dhabiās sovereign wealth fund Mubadala ā is leading a project with commitments of as much as USD 1 billion to build data centers and cloud computing services in Vietnam, Bloomberg reported on 9 February 2026.
This came after American technology giant Nvidia announced in December 2024 the opening of its first Vietnam R&D center to focus on AI development.
In the financial sector, Singaporeās United Overseas Bank was set to become the first foreign lender to build its Vietnam headquarters at the International Financial Center (IFC) in Ho Chi Minh City.
Singapore-based Vantage Point Asset Management also committed to mobilizing up to USD 10 billion over the next five years for investments linked to the IFC, The Investor reported on 12 February 2026.
As Southeast Asiaās biggest economy, Indonesia did have a bright spot in recent months as Asian digital infrastructure firm Digital Edge reportedly plans to invest USD 4.5 billion to build a data center campus on the outskirts of Jakarta.
However, Indonesia is struggling to wean its reliance off hot portfolio money. Over the past few weeks, fund outflows have been intensifying amid worries about the growing centralization, widening fiscal deficit and asset seizures under President Prabowo Subianto.
Legal Groundwork
Vietnamās political system is relatively stable and its government has been laying the groundwork to woo long-term investors.
On 23 January 2026, the countryās top leader, To Lam, was reappointed as head of the ruling Communist Party for the next five years after a unanimous vote by its central committee, according to a CNA report.
To accelerate growth, Vietnamās leaders have shown a willingness to listen to investorsā feedback and adapt lessons from other countries.
In November 2025, I wrote that Southeast Asiaās restructuring scene had a mixed performance, as Malaysia and Singapore crossed certain milestones while Vietnamās bankruptcy law was considered largely untested.
Vietnam has now overhauled its decade-old bankruptcy legislation and enacted a new law that will take effect on 1 March 2026, A&O Shearman wrote. This was āa response to longstanding concerns that the existing bankruptcy regime has been an ineffective tool for addressing distressed situations,ā the law firm said.
The 2025 Law on Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy contains provisions dealing with both inward and outward-bound requests related to cross-border bankruptcy. The introduction of this set of provisions would make Vietnam āa more friendly jurisdiction for bankruptcy proceedingsā, according to A&O Shearman.
Vietnam is also developing the judicial infrastructure to serve investors operating within the IFC, according to a note by Indochine Counsel last month. The Specialised Court at the IFC is the authority for resolving disputes arising within the financial centers in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang City.
Foreign judges, lawyers, and other experts can be appointed as judges at the Specialised Court, according to Indochine Counsel. The Specialised Court also permits the application of foreign law and international commercial customs in dispute resolution.
Vietnamās vision of an international bench at the IFC reminds me of the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC). Launched in 2015, the SICC offers litigants the option of having their disputes adjudicated by a panel of specialist judges from the city-state alongside international judges.
Correction Risk
Itās not all smooth sailing in Vietnam.
I wrote last year that some developers including Novaland fell into distress after the authorities tightened restrictions on corporate bond issuances. I also flagged that Vietnamās property sector is likely to be a risk zone for banks, which are exposed to both the developers and their owners.
Overall, Vietnamās credit growth accelerated to 19.1% last year from 15.1% in 2024, Fitch Ratings said in a report on 28 January 2026. Credit rose to around 145% of GDP by end-2025, almost triple the āBBā median of 52%, according to the rating agency.
āWhile rapid credit growth can boost activity in the short term, it can also steer lending into low-return or speculative uses, which can inflate asset prices and raise the risk of a later correction that can hurt banks, investment and overall growth,ā Fitch said.
There was also a warning sign in Vietnamās state-owned enterprises (SOE) sector.
The Business Times reported in November 2025 that more than 20 foreign power companies, including Mitsubishi and Singaporeās SP Group, had pushed Hanoi for urgent talks after prolonged payment delays from Vietnam Electricity.
Vietnam has to contain these risks and the real test of its legal infrastructure lies in enforcement. Nevertheless, Hanoi has planted some green shoots that can grow stronger if nurtured overtime.