Vietnam Bank for Social Policies and the Journey of Building a Public Financial Institution for the People

Closing the year 2025, overcoming the challenges of climate change, unusual natural disasters, and global economic fluctuations, the Party Committee, professional units, and trade union system of VBSP have raised high the banner of emulation, uniting collective strength with the flexibility and creativity of each officer, union member, and employee within the VBSP system. This has enabled VBSP to streamline its system in line with the spirit of Resolution 60-NQ/TW dated April 12, 2025, of the 13th Central Committee of the Party, while continuing to affirm its role as a ‘supporter’ for the poor and policy beneficiaries, contributing to social security, sustainable poverty reduction, and new rural development that meets the demands of renovation, integration, and sustainable development in the nation’s era of progress.

Y Vien Nie frequently visits the village, goes down to the commune for disbursement, demonstrating dedication, understanding, and accompanying the local people

When Work Becomes a Source of Pride

“Every day, after finishing work, I often reflect: what good have I done today for the Bank, for poor households, and for policy beneficiaries? What do I need to do tomorrow?”

This reflection by Y Vien Nie, a credit officer at the VBSP Krong Pac Transaction Office, Dak Lak Province, illustrates that “Understanding deeply, serving dedicatedly” is not merely a slogan of VBSP, it has deeply permeated the mindset of each VBSP officer. At the VBSP Commendation Conference for Exemplary Officers for the 2020-2025 period, many officers, even those who had never met in person, shared the same view: being a credit officer is not just a profession for livelihood, but “being entrusted to deliver social policy credit to poor households and help them escape poverty is a great honor”, as Y Vien Nie expressed.

“Though the work can be demanding, it is truly glorious when VBSP officers serve the poor and other vulnerable groups in society. Seeing the radiant faces of households lifted out of poverty, the joy of workers whose employment has been created, and the smiles of students receiving loans to continue their education… I feel increasingly proud and committed to my work, contributing to the successful implementation of the social security policies entrusted by the Party and State”, Y Vien Nie shared.

This faith and pride provide Vien Nie with the strength to overcome hardships, continually learn from fieldwork in villages, colleagues, and literature, and devote himself with utmost responsibility to serving the people, especially ethnic minority poor households and those in remote areas with low education levels and limited production capacity. These tireless efforts have cumulatively created a thriving credit picture across the four communes under his management, with outstanding loans growing from approximately USD 2.17 million in 2020 (VND 56.9 billion) to over USD 6.32 million (VND 166 billion). Notably, savings deposits totaling about USD 285,000 from 3,322 borrowing customers, representing 99% of borrowers in the area, marks a significant step forward, reflecting ethnic minorities’ transformation in managing government credit effectively.

For Hoang Phong Hai, Head of the Planning - Operations Team at the VBSP Dam Ha Transaction Office, Quang Ninh Province, this foundation of trust has become the driving force through more than 20 years of service in various positions and units, facing many challenges such as working far from home, adapting to changing work environments, and meeting increasingly demanding job requirements. He has persistently sought solutions to enhance efficiency and quality, fulfilling his role as a dedicated VBSP officer.

From 2019 to 2025 alone, he and his colleagues more than doubled the outstanding credit balance. As of April 30, 2025, the Transaction Office’s total outstanding loans reached approximately USD 15.14 million (VND 398 billion), up about USD 7.21 million compared to 2019, with 4,333 households still in debt. This capital has contributed to transforming production methods among ethnic minorities, who make up about 30.83% of the population, and helped reduce the poverty rate from 1.92% and near-poor rate from 3.89% in 2020 to 0% in 2023 according to central criteria and currently 0% according to local criteria.

Emulating for a Sustainable VBSP Development

The “Pink-Shirt Warriors” persistently deliver policy credit, helping to uplift lives, empower the vulnerable, and turn dreams into reality

Looking back at 2025 as well as previous years, VBSP has always created a vibrant emulation spirit throughout the system, from the Head Office to grassroots units. Emulation movements following the motto of competing to promote the successful completion of political tasks, with a focus on grassroots implementation, have harnessed intelligence and strength in all activities, inspiring the tradition of loving the sector and the profession among every officer and employee; at the same time, closely adhering to the political tasks of VBSP assigned by the Prime Minister in each period and phase, striving to overcome difficulties, and excellently completing all assigned tasks.

In particular, with the role as the extended arm of the Government in implementing social policy credit, VBSP has become an effective tool for executing emulation movements of the Government and the SBV, such as “Nationwide Unity for New Rural Development” during 2021-2025; “For the Poor - Leaving No One Behind”; “High-Intensity Emulation to Celebrate Party Congresses at All Levels” for the 2020-2025 and 2025-2030 periods; and the emulation movement “Joining Hands to Eliminate Temporary and Dilapidated Houses Nationwide in 2025”. Besides launching plans and organizing implementation, VBSP also integrated these movements with internal emulation movements to successfully fulfill political tasks, such as “Striving to Complete the Action Program Implementing VBSP Development Strategy by 2030”; “Promoting the Development of Modern and Synchronous Infrastructure; Practicing Savings and Anti-Waste Measures”; the emulation movement to implement Directive No. 40-CT/TW of the Party Secretariat on strengthening Party leadership over social policy credit; and the emulation movement to implement the National Strategy on Clean Water and Rural Sanitation for 2004-2020.

Similarly, to implement the emulation movement “Nationwide Innovation and Digital Transformation” and the “Digital Literacy Movement” under Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW of the Government, the General Director of VBSP issued the Plan for Science, Technology, Innovation, and Digital Transformation Development within VBSP, and the Plan for implementing the “Digital Literacy Movement” in VBSP.

This has laid the foundation for VBSP in 2025 to successfully carry out the political tasks assigned by the Party and State, particularly ensuring that VBSP operations remain effective and safe after localities reorganized administrative units according to Resolution No. 60-NQ/TW.

By the end of 2025, total credit capital reached nearly USD 16.07 billion (VND 423,000 billion), an increase of 12.4% compared to 2024. Of which, funds entrusted by local budgets reached USD 2.50 billion (VND 65,618 billion), up VND 14,937 billion, accounting for 15.5% of total capital.

After 30 years of operation, VBSP’s social policy credit scale has grown remarkably, reaching more than USD 15.70 billion (VND 413,000 billion), 59 times higher than at the Bank’s inception, with over 6.7 million poor households and policy beneficiaries currently enjoying the benefits. Social policy credit now covers 100% of communes, wards, and towns nationwide, contributing to transforming rural areas, narrowing development gaps between regions, and improving the material and spiritual life of the people.

Specifically, over more than 23 years since VBSP’s establishment, social policy credit has supported nearly 7.6 million jobs from the National Employment Fund, helped about 167,000 workers go abroad for temporary employment, created jobs for over 13,000 ex-prisoners, assisted more than 4 million students in obtaining study loans, purchased over 90,000 computers and online learning devices, supported nearly 800 graduate and postgraduate students in STEM fields with loans, built nearly 21.4 million rural safe water and sanitation works, constructed nearly 734,000 houses for poor households and other policy beneficiaries, provided loans for the purchase/rental of nearly 60,000 social housing units, and helped over 1,500 enterprises pay wages for 1.2 million employees… thereby enabling all levels, sectors, and localities to successfully implement the National Target Program on sustainable poverty reduction, social security, and new rural development.

This forms the foundation for VBSP to reach its goal by 2030 of becoming a self-reliant and sustainably developing institution, while maintaining its role as a public financial institution implementing the Government’s social policies, focusing on areas where market-based financial institutions cannot fully meet demand, thereby contributing to the Party and State’s long-term and consistent orientation in linking economic development with poverty reduction, social security, and socialist-oriented market economy development.

Article and photos by Viet Hai - Thuy Trang