Improving Accessibility of Financial Services in the Border-Gate Areas to Facilitate Cross-Border Trade: The Case of Viet Nam and Implications for Greater Mekong Subregion Cooperation

Abstract

Over the years, cross-border trade has expanded rapidly among countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). Among the factors that contributed to this phenomenon is the application of a number of cross-border trade facilitation measures. However, the current emphasis of cross-border trade facilitation in the GMS is on customs procedures, inspection and quarantine measures, trade logistics, transport, and mobility of business people, while the important role of financial services has been, so far, overlooked. Using the case study of Viet Nam to draw implications for GMS cooperation, this paper investigates how users and providers of fi nancial services in the border-gate areas see financial services as a factor of cross-border trade facilitation. It also examines how users and providers of financial services perceive the different dimensions of financial service accessibility and how accessibility affects customers’ decisions to use financial services in the border-gate areas.