Closing the credit gap for Vietnamese MSMEs

Vietnam’s operating lease market sits at the intersection of two powerful trends: a young and rapidly growing SME sector, and an under-supply of capital for asset financing. The market is small today but is positioned for the kind of growth that has played out in more developed Southeast Asian markets over the past decade.

Why now

Three structural factors are aligning:

• SME demand for equipment finance. Vietnamese SMEs consistently identify access to finance as a top constraint. Operating lease – which does not require collateral in the traditional sense – is well suited to the SME segment.
• Foreign capital looking for yield. Regional DFIs and impact investors are increasingly looking at Vietnam’s SME finance market as a way to deploy capital at scale.
• Limited domestic supply. The market remains fragmented and under-capitalized. There is room for a well-run specialist operator.

The opportunity in numbers

The addressable market across our priority verticals – manufacturing equipment, transport, IT, and medical – runs into the low single-digit billions USD today and is conservatively projected to grow at 15-20% per year over the next five years.

What is needed to win

The market is open to early movers, but winning requires a combination of: deep local relationships (especially with SME customers and equipment vendors), disciplined credit underwriting, and patient capital with a 5-7 year return horizon.

BCA Partners’ view

We see this as one of the more attractive under-penetrated financial services opportunities in Vietnam today. The combination of structural demand, limited supply, and availability of long-term capital is rare – and is the kind of market where specialist operators with the right strategy can establish durable positions.