Smartfinance is an independent financial comparison website for helping consumers in

emerging markets An emerging market (or an emerging country or an emerging economy) is a market that has some characteristics of a developed market, but does not fully meet its standards. This includes markets that may become developed markets in the future or were ...

to make the most of their money. The website enables consumers to compare prices on a range of products, including

mortgage A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any pu ...

credit card A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the o ...

s, bank accounts, savings products and

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

s as well as providing a range of calculators and advice. Smartfinance acts as an independent guide for consumers faced with

information overload Information overload (also known as infobesity, infoxication, information anxiety, and information explosion) is the difficulty in understanding an issue and effectively making decisions when one has too much information (TMI) about that issue, ...

, with an agenda to champion the interests of consumers and to improve

market transparency In economics, a market is transparent if much is known by many about: What products and services or capital assets are available, market depth (quantity available), what price, and where. Transparency is important since it is one of the theoret ...

Smartfinance Mission

Smartfinance aims to be the default destination for any consumer seeking advice regarding a personal finance choice.

History

Smartfinance was founded in 2008 having witnessed the tremendous growth of aggregator sites in mature economies. The founders believed that the service offered would be of particular relevance to emerging economies where there is typically a far lower level of understanding of financial products and little or no opportunity for consumers to access independent advice. The launch territory for the business was Vietnam in 2009. With a small team based in

Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi i ...

, Smartfinance has had to raise awareness among both consumers and product providers. By August 2009, Smartfinance.vn covered a wide range of products from Savings through to Credit Cards and Insurance, with prices provided by over 50 different institutions. Smartfinance.sg launched in April 2010, and the business will deploy the portal to other Asian and emerging markets during 2009–2011. Each country serviced has a dedicated site to ensure that all local legislation, regulatory requirements and market conditions are catered for.

Operations

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Criticisms

Smartfinance has been criticized for not including all products on the market and therefore any price comparisons are not 100% comprehensive. However, it chooses to only display prices from financial institutions that have agreed to share their data, and more importantly, keep it updated in real time. This ensures Smartfinance data is always the most accurate source of market information. At the current time Smartfinance covers over 75 institutions in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...

who are collectively estimated to account for over 90% of market share for retail products.

External links

* http://www.smartfinance.vn Economics websites