State Bank of Vietnam signs 2026–2030 banking cooperation memorandum with Bank of the Lao PDR and moves toward two-way QR payments

The State Bank of Vietnam published a readout of Governor Nguyễn Thị Hồng’s 1–3 December mission to Laos, including the annual governor-level bilateral talks with the Bank of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and the exchange of a memorandum covering priority banking cooperation for 2026–2030. The two central banks reviewed monetary and banking developments and agreed to deepen work on local-currency settlement and cross-border retail payment connectivity, alongside continued technical cooperation. Talks covered macroeconomic conditions and monetary policy, noting Lao average inflation of about 7.9% in the first 10 months of 2025 against a 9% target, and emphasised strengthening bank regulation and supervision through Basel-aligned standards and risk management for credit quality, liquidity and foreign exchange. On VND/LAK use, Laos has completed the legal framework and designated authorised currency conversion agents (ACCD), while direct VND–LAK payment and remittance volumes were reported to be more than 12 times the earlier pilot; the update also referenced the ongoing VND-denominated lending project for Vietnamese firms investing in Laos. For QR payments, Vietnam-to-Laos QR transactions have been connected since January 2025 via VietQR Global, with volumes and values in the first eight months of 2025 nearly 26 times those in the last four months of 2024, and the Lao side indicated readiness to connect the reverse direction. The governors signed the 2025 bilateral meeting minutes and tasked technical teams to review and address issues raised by Vietnamese commercial banks operating in Laos. A formal announcement of two-way QR payments is expected in late 2025 or early 2026, and the next high-level bilateral talks are planned to take place in Vietnam in 2026.