At a 21 March 2025 workshop on bank capital for the private economy, the State Bank of Vietnam’s Permanent Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu presented end-2024 lending figures showing private enterprises account for a large share of system credit and joined discussions on improving small and medium-sized enterprises’ access to bank finance. Outstanding credit to private enterprises at credit institutions reached around VND 7 quadrillion by end-2024, up 14.72% from 2023 and about 44% of total credit in the economy; SME credit was around VND 2.7 quadrillion, up 10.7%. Participants highlighted persistent access barriers including limited financial capacity, lack of collateral and insufficiently transparent financial statements, and proposed solutions such as association-led facilitation between SMEs and banks, cashflow-based unsecured lending, loans linked to output contracts or assets formed from borrowing, greater use of transaction data in credit assessments, and streamlined, risk-based appraisal processes with more automation to shorten processing times.