Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance has proposed revising the Law on Support for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises to let SMEs pledge digital assets, virtual assets, intellectual property and other intangible rights as loan collateral. The draft aims to widen credit access for asset-light firms, especially startups and technology businesses that lack land or fixed assets.
The proposal was open for public consultation from May 25 to May 29, 2026, with a planned National Assembly review in October and a possible effective date of July 1, 2027. That timeline makes the reform conditional but commercially important, giving banks and borrowers time to prepare legal and operational frameworks.
Collateral Rules Move Beyond Land and Buildings
The draft would expand acceptable collateral to include future-formed assets, property rights, intellectual property rights, intangible assets, digital assets, virtual assets and other lawful assets. Banks would be encouraged to look beyond traditional secured lending, though they would still need to assess whether each asset type is legally valid and bankable.
The financing gap is significant. SMEs and household businesses represent more than 98% of Vietnam’s enterprises, but their outstanding loans account for only about 20% of total banking-system credit.
By the end of April 2026, outstanding SME loans reached nearly VND 3.8 quadrillion, or about $144.2 billion. The Ministry of Finance linked the credit imbalance to weak collateral access, limited financial transparency and smaller capital bases, problems that often affect innovation-driven firms.
Banks Still Need Valuation and Custody Rules
The proposal also asks lenders to consider credit ratings, business plans, market expansion potential and enterprise cash flows. That would shift underwriting toward business viability, rather than relying heavily on real estate or fixed assets as the main route to credit.
Digital and virtual assets require valuation methods, custody controls, lien-recognition procedures and liquidation playbooks, otherwise the reform may remain difficult to use in real lending decisions.
The measure fits Vietnam’s broader push to formalize digital-asset activity, including work on regulated crypto markets and tax treatment. Draft tax proposals include a 0.1% personal income tax on crypto transactions and 20% corporate income tax on profits, which would shape the cost of trading or using digital assets as collateral.
For SMEs, the upside is access to credit without needing traditional property-heavy balance sheets. For lenders and compliance teams, the reform creates new governance duties, including onboarding checks, collateral audits, custody verification and stress testing for volatile assets.
The draft could redirect credit toward knowledge-intensive companies if approved. Its real impact will depend on whether banks can price, secure and enforce claims over digital collateral, while aligning the new framework with Vietnam’s emerging crypto and tax rules.
