Smartfinance is a Vietnamese 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 we ...

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 (legal system), civil law jurisdictions 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 t ...

s, credit cards, bank accounts, savings products and

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

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, or information anxiety) is the difficulty in understanding an issue and Decision making, effectively making decisions when one has too much information (TMI) about that issue, and is ...

, 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 theore ...

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 ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

, 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. The Singapore site was shut down in 2018.

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, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

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

References

{{reflist Economics websites Companies based in Ho Chi Minh City