Shinhan Bank Vietnam review: services, fees, pros and cons

Shinhan Bank Vietnam Limited is the Vietnamese banking arm of Shinhan Bank Co., Ltd., part of Shinhan Financial Group — one of South Korea's largest financial conglomerates, listed on the Korea Exchange (KOSPI: 055550) and, via ADR, on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker SHG). Shinhan's presence in Vietnam dates back to 1994, when it opened the country's first Korean-bank branch in Ho Chi Minh City. In 2008–2009 it became one of the first five banks licensed as a 100% foreign-owned subsidiary bank, and in 2011 it merged with Shinhan Vina Bank to form Shinhan Vietnam Bank.

The turning point came in 2017, when Shinhan acquired ANZ Vietnam's retail banking division, lifting its assets to roughly US$3.3 billion and its customer base to about 900,000. It is now the largest foreign-owned bank in Vietnam by branch and transaction-office network — a scale that puts it in a different league from Vietnam's smaller foreign banks when you compare all the banks working with foreign buyers.

For a foreigner purchasing an apartment under Vietnam's ownership rules for foreign buyers — a renewable 50-year certificate, capped at 30% of the units in a building under the Housing Law 2023 — a Vietnamese bank account is not optional: developers, notaries and the land registry all expect payments to move through a domestic account, not a foreign card or cash. Shinhan is a realistic option here. Hanoi branches will open a personal account for a foreign passport holder presenting a valid visa or Temporary Residence Card (TRC), proof of address and a stated long-term reason for being in Vietnam, with English-speaking staff available to walk through the paperwork.

On financing, Shinhan is one of a handful of foreign-owned banks that publish mortgage terms for foreigners — loans up to roughly 70% of a property's value, over a maximum 30-year term. In practice this still targets residents with local income and a TRC rather than purely offshore buyers; if you plan to fund your purchase from abroad instead, our guide to transferring funds into Vietnam covers the compliant route. For staged, off-plan payments, Shinhan's local account and SWIFT network also plug cleanly into the payment schedule described in our step-by-step buying process.