The Benefits of Green Finance (Greenium) & the Role of Independent Assessment

On May 9, the seminar "Building Trust in Sustainability Reporting: The Role of Rating and Assurance" was successfully held by FiinGroup in collaboration with ACCA. The event gathered over 50 participants, including business leaders, experts, and senior executives from enterprises, financial and investment institutions, and ESG- and impact-focused investment funds. 

Representing the regulatory authorities, Mr. Trinh Duc Vinh – Deputy Director General of the Department of Accounting and Auditing Supervision under the Ministry of Finance – delivered a valuable keynote on sustainable development and finance. According to him, while many Vietnamese companies, especially publicly listed ones, have started preparing sustainability reports, they often lack clear benchmarking references for market evaluation. 

In this context, the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) have become an inevitable global trend, enhancing transparency and comparability between Vietnamese and international companies. The Ministry of Finance is actively promoting a roadmap for IFRS adoption, in which sustainability reporting and integrated financial reporting are tightly linked. As such, companies, particularly listed ones, need to proactively prepare and explore appropriate solutions to comply with IFRS. One such solution is Bond Pricing by FiinGroup, a data-driven fair valuation service aligned with market principles, supporting compliance with IFRS 9 and 13. 

During the event, Mr. Nguyen Quang Thuan – Chairman of FiinGroup and FiinRatings – delivered an insightful presentation on “The Benefits of Green Finance (Greenium) and the Role of Independent Assessment.” Key takeaways included: 

• Promoting green finance has recently become a central policy direction, specifically mentioned in Party Resolutions as a key measure to "mobilize and develop capital for enterprises." However, the market is still awaiting concrete institutional and policy actions, as voluntary initiatives alone have not created a sufficient push. 
• Sustainable finance is expanding rapidly both globally and in the ASEAN region. The benefits of green funding, also known as greenium, have been substantiated through academic research and actual market data. In Vietnam, although initial green bond transactions have emerged, they remain limited in scale and frequency, mostly driven by voluntary investor demand. Therefore, the market expects a stronger Policy Push to unlock green capital flows, not only for the private sector but also for public-sector initiatives. 
• Although still limited in statistical scale, recent voluntary green bond transactions in Vietnam have demonstrated clear attributes: lower interest rates, longer tenors, reduced interest rate volatility, a broader investor base, and additional resources to support green transition initiatives. This reinforces the need for more research, analysis, and evaluation to promote awareness of these benefits among businesses, regulators, and policy stakeholders alike. 
• As international sustainability standards remain relatively new to the Vietnamese market, and with several major government policies issued recently, Vietnamese enterprises should proactively explore and leverage this window of opportunity. Companies must align their business models and investment projects with the most suitable and beneficial sustainable finance instruments. 

FiinGroup and its subsidiary FiinRatings - Vietnam’s leading provider of financial data analytics and independent credit ratings, including ESG and green finance-related assessments - are committed to accompanying market participants on their journey toward greater market transparency and unlocking Vietnam’s green capital potential. 

Download the full presentation HERE

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