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Category: Research

Retail News Asia is committed to providing both local and global retailers with the latest Research throughout the Asian market. This on a daily base.

  • Omnichannel customer experience drives contact center growth

    Omnichannel customer experience drives contact center growth

    The rising relevance of the cloud in the current business environment is prompting contact center solution providers (CCSPs) to shift from a premise-based legacy infrastructure to hosted/cloud contact centers.

    Global, as well as mid-sized CCSPs such as Avaya, Genesys, Verint, NICE, Cisco, Unify, Interactive Intelligence and West Interactive, are strategically offering an omnichannel customer experience to attract business across end-user segments.

    Frost & Sullivan finds that the acceleration of omnichannel and digital transformation, coupled with the C-suite demand for stronger and swifter growth, is driving technology acquisitions.

    “Hosted/cloud contact center solutions will benefit from converged tools, newer social channels and deeper integrations to expand their footprint from 24% of the total seats base in 2015 to a likely 40% by 2020,” said Nancy Jamison, principal analyst of Frost & Sullivan Digital Transformation.

    “CCSPs can drive home the advantage by delivering an omnichannel CX that aligns with the needs of all stakeholders, including employees, customers, prospects, suppliers, distributors and partners.”

    Jamison said contact center vendors need to find a way to tap greenfield opportunities while still catering to their large installed base of premise products.

    “Vendors that deliver a comprehensive suite of cloud contact center solutions comprising of mobile, social, web real-time communication, analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, automation and personalization technologies, will grow faster than best-of-breed solution providers,” said Jamison.

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  • Where is Indonesian e-commerce headed?

    Where is Indonesian e-commerce headed?

    With a population of over 250 million and rapidly growing internet adoption, the Indonesian archipelago could offer a booming market for online shopping — and current projections say it will reach $130 billion by 2020.

    “The great thing is that there are a lot of investments… There are choices for consumers that love innovative solutions that are coming out from Indonesia itself,” William Gondokusumo, the CEO of Campaign.com and director of Tororo.com told.

    Recently, the Indonesian government altered regulations to allow more foreign investment in the sector. Indonesia’s investment service agency only recently allowed 100-percent foreign ownership for investments above 100 billion Indonesian rupiah ($7.53 million) for the establishment of an e-commerce company in the country.

    However, even with “big boys” such as Alibaba and JD.com coming in — and Amazon soon following with a reported $600 million investment — Gondokusumo predicted that domestic e-commerce firms won’t be pushed out as they are “more community focused.”

    The slowing Indonesian retail growth numbers of February, and indications that price pressure will continue over the next few months do not affect Gondokusumo’s bullish view on the retail and e-commerce in the country.

    “The way we see it,” he said. “All retail and media companies will eventually become their own social network.”

    On the contrary, Ken Dean Lawadinata, former CEO and chairman of Kaskus Networks, who invested alongside Gondokusumo in Tororo, held a less optimistic attitude.

    “At the moment, I have a more bearish attitude towards the IT industry, where I believe most investors and owners are pushing their company to a quick sell or short term mentality. This is not sustainable and bad for the industry itself,” he told in an email.

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  • 5G indoor wireless market to be worth $509m by 2025

    5G indoor wireless market to be worth $509m by 2025

    The global equipment market for in-building wireless system, including active distributed antenna systems (DAS), passive DAS, and repeaters, is expected to grow to $10 billion in 2025, according to ABI Research.

    Yet, out of this market, 5G in-building wireless equipment will account for only 5% or $509 million in 2025, due to one year or more delay of 5G deployments indoors and in venues compared to outdoor 5G deployments starting from 2020, the research firm says.

    “As 5G nears full specification, mobile network operators will face challenges for indoor mobile coverage, including signal propagation, next-generation fronthaul/backhaul, and massive MIMO,” says Nick Marshall, research director at ABI Research.

    According to Marshall, early 5G deployments indoors and in venues will be a migration building on the features of LTE-Advanced and LTE-Advanced Pro. This will happen technology by technology and frequency by frequency, avoiding costly ‘rip and replace’ style deployments, the analyst notes.

    Marshall further points out that future 5G networks – which will comprise of a combination of different cell types and access technologies to seamlessly adapt to an array of use cases and applications – will rely on network functions virtualization (NFV) and mobile edge computing (MEC) to alter the architecture and topology of the RAN by leveraging telco data centers to virtualize signal processing in the cloud.

    NFV migrates cellular signal processing to a remote telco data center, while MEC, in a countervailing trend, migrates IT compute and storage to the network edge within the building or venue for low latency use cases and applications.

    With 5G standards yet to be finalized, many equipment vendors are actively researching and developing 5G equipment with a variety of approaches. These companies include Nokia with its AirFrame/AirScale Radio Access, Ericsson with its ERS, and CommScope with its OneCell.

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  • The rise of the IoT marketplace is under way

    The rise of the IoT marketplace is under way

    As companies seek to transform themselves with IoT technologies, they are confronted by an incredibly complex and diverse supplier market from which to build IoT solutions, according to ABI Research.

    To address this challenge, suppliers are leveraging ecosystem partnerships to provide end-users with a one-stop-shop portfolio of hardware, software, and services.

    These emerging IoT Marketplaces not only simplify IoT solution creation and adoption, but they also facilitate supplier and buyer interactions ultimately creating open networks that encourage innovation.

    “The IoT supplier landscape is scattered right now with a diverse array of companies offering a myriad of complex components and solutions,” ABI research analyst Ryan Harbison said.

    “IoT Marketplaces, are a response to this complexity designed to reduce the friction buyers face when adopting and implementing IoT solutions.”

    ABI Research finds that to reduce the friction that enterprise developers encounter when developing IoT solutions, IoT Marketplaces need to effectively address all components of the IoT value chain.

    While some IoT Marketplaces currently offer all solution components, many do not have comprehensive offerings. Suppliers are currently working to formalize and expand marketplace offerings and in some cases, integrate them with resources and programs already in place to fully leverage existing relationships.

    “IoT Marketplaces allow suppliers to build an IoT offering centered around their core offerings,” continued Harbison. “These marketplaces are particularly effective when they are built around a single connection point, such as a platform or gateway, because that simplifies the work enterprise developers need to do on both the front and back end.”

    ThingWorx successfully leveraged its platform alongside its partners’ expertise to offer a comprehensive supplier exchange. Aeris’ Neo Marketplace provides enterprises not only end-to-end IoT solutions, but also access to support services, APIs, and network services tools.

    Dell, likewise, worked with its partner program to center its end-to-end marketplace offerings on its IoT edge gateways. Companies like Libelium, Sierra Wireless, and Telus offer solutions in the form of vertical-specific application development and solution kits aimed at enterprise developers.

    Other companies like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft currently limit their IoT Marketplace offerings to software solutions, but both are looking to integrate their existing program into a cohesive end-to-end IoT offering.

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  • Total data created to grow tenfold by 2025

    Total data created to grow tenfold by 2025

    In response to a new study forecasting a tenfold rise in worldwide data by 2025, Seagate is advising business leaders and entrepreneurs to amplify their focus on the mega trends driving data growth over the next several years, and examine their business’ course for the future value of data from creation, collection, utilization and management.

    The IDC white paper, Data Age 2025, sponsored by Seagate, predicts data creation will swell to a total of 163 zettabytes (ZB) by 2025; indicating that the decade centered around the conversion of analog data to digital is being replaced by an era focused on the value of data; creating, utilizing, and managing ‘life critical’ data necessary for the smooth running of daily life for consumers, governments and businesses alike. Consumers and businesses creating, sharing and accessing data between any device and the cloud will continue to grow well beyond previous expectations.

    Further, whereas once consumers were the primary creators of the bulk of the world’s data, Data Age 2025 predicts this will shift, with enterprises creating 60% of the world’s data in 2025. Business leaders will have the opportunity to embrace new and unique business opportunities powered by this wealth of data and the insight it provides but will also need to make strategic choices on data collection, utilization and location.

    Virtually every enterprise, the white paper indicates, is being affected by the major data-driving trends. Notable drivers of the shift from primarily consumer-led to enterprise-driven data include:

    • The evolution of data from business background to life-critical –By 2025, nearly 20% of the data in the global datasphere will be critical to our daily lives and nearly 10% of that will be hypercritical.
    • Embedded systems and the Internet of Things (IoT) – By 2025, an average connected person anywhere in the world will interact with connected devices nearly 4,800 times per day – basically one interaction every 18 seconds.
    • Machine learning changing the landscape –IDC estimates that the amount of the global datasphere subject to data analysis will grow by a factor of 50 to 5.2 ZB in 2025.
    • True mobile and real-time data –By 2025, more than a quarter of data created will be real-time in nature, and IoT real-time data will constitute over 95% of it.
    • Automation and machine-to-machine technologies shifting the bulk of data creation away from traditional sources – While data creation in the previous 10 years has been characterized primarily by an increase in entertainment content, the coming decade will reflect the shift to productivity-driven and embedded data, as well as non-entertainment images and video such as surveillance and advertising.
  • Cybercriminals building an “army of things”: Fortinet

    Cybercriminals building an “army of things”: Fortinet

    Cybercriminals are building an  “army of things” that is powered by the digital underground, according to Fortinet.

    The security company’s latest Global Threat Landscape Report covering Q4 2016 reveals the methods and strategies cybercriminals employed during the quarter in detail.

    The report confirms that Internet of Things (IoT) devices are sought-after commodities for cybercriminals around the world. Adversaries are building their own armies of “things” and the ability to cheaply replicate attacks at incredible speed and scale is a core pillar of the modern cybercrime ecosystem.

    In Q4 2016, the industry was reeling from the Yahoo data breach and Dyn DDoS attack. Before the quarter was halfway done, the records set by both events were not only broken, but doubled.

    Meanwhile, IoT devices compromised by the Mirai botnet initiated multiple record-setting DDoS attacks. The release of Mirai’s source code increased botnet activity by 25 times within a week, with activity increasing by 125 times by year’s end.

    IoT-related exploit activity for several device categories showed scans for vulnerable home routers and printers topped the list, but DVRs/NVRs briefly eclipsed routers as the thing of choice with a massive jump spanning 6+ orders of magnitude.

    Unlike other parts of the world, vulnerabilities in home routers formed the majority of IoT-based attacks in Asia Pacific. Many home routers are manufactured and deployed in this region, resulting in attacks on them being centered here.

    Mobile malware become a larger problem than before. Though it accounted for only 1.7% of the total malware volume, one in five organizations reporting malware encountered a mobile variant, nearly all was on Android.

    Substantial regional differences were found in mobile malware attacks, with 36% coming from African organizations, 23% from Asia, 16% from North America, compared to only 8% in Europe. This data has implications for the trusted devices on corporate networks today.

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  • Mobile malware infections continue to rise

    Mobile malware infections continue to rise

    Nokia’s latest Threat Intelligence Report indicates that there was a steady increase in mobile device infections throughout 2016.

    Malware struck an estimated 1.35% of all mobile devices in October – the highest level seen since reporting started in 2012.

    The overall infection rate meanwhile increased 63% sequentially in the second half of 2016.

    Smartphones were the top malware targets by far, accounting for 85% of all mobile device infections in the second half of 2016. The report also revealed a surge of nearly 400% in smartphone malware attacks in 2016.

    While Android-based smartphones and tablets continued to be the primary targets (81%), reflecting the prevalence of the operating system worldwide, iOS-based devices also suffered attacks in the second half of the year (4%), primarily by Spyphone surveillance software that tracks users’ calls, text messages, social media applications, web searches, GPS locations and other activities.

    The Threat Intelligence Report also exposed major vulnerabilities in the rapidly expanding universe of IoT devices, underscoring the need for the industry to re-evaluate its IoT deployment strategies to ensure these devices are securely configured, managed and monitored.

    In late 2016, the Mirai botnet assembled an army of compromised IoT devices to launch three of the largest DDoS attacks in history, including an assault that took down many high-profile web services. These attacks underscored the urgent requirement for more robust security capabilities to protect IoT devices from future attacks and exploitation.

    ”The security of IoT devices has become a major concern,” commented Kevin McNamee, head of the Nokia Threat Intelligence Lab. “The Mirai botnet attacks last year demonstrated how thousands of unsecured IoT devices could easily be hijacked to launch crippling DDoS attacks. As the number and types of IoT devices continue to proliferate, the risks will only increase.”

    The report also indicates that Windows/PC systems accounted for 15% of malware infections in the second half of 2016, down from 22% in the first half of the year.

    The monthly infection rate in residential fixed broadband networks averaged 10.7% in the second half of 2016, down from 12% in the first half, and down from 11% in late 2015.

    While moderate threat level adware activity decreased in the second half of 2016, high-level threats (e.g., bots, rootkits, keyloggers and banking Trojans) remained steady at approximately 6%.

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  • Generation Z prefers in-store shopping decisions

    Generation Z prefers in-store shopping decisions

    An overwhelming number of generation Z, also known as post-millennials, prefer visiting a store as the final step in their shopping process, new research has found.

    In its Evolution of Retail 2017 Generation Z shopper survey, Euclid Analytics found that 66 per cent of the demographic prefers in-store shopping, while 28 per cent wants to interact with store staff members.

    This mobile-first generation – by broad definition, aged under 22 – uses digital to research products, but then prefers to go to the store to touch and try out items before buying, says the survey. The challenge for retailers will be to figure out a way to help cater to this new approach.

    Generation Z prefers to get in and get out when it comes to shopping behaviour, the survey also shows, with 53 per cent saying they dislike browsing in stores and 31 per cent saying it is hard to find items in stores. Meanwhile, 26 per cent want retailers to provide a more tailored shopping experience.
    Euclid Analytics CEO Brent Franson says retailers should reach out to generation Z at this early stage to introduce their brands and forge enduring relationships.

    “Our findings highlight some great opportunities for them to connect with this mobile-first population that is still very much interested in meaningful in-store experiences. Winning their loyalty will mean getting creative about using mobile and social marketing outreach in their physical stores.”

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  • Vietnamese prefer overseas sites for online shopping

    Vietnamese prefer overseas sites for online shopping

    Local consumers say global giants like Amazon and eBay offer a wider range of products and better return policies. Vietnamese online shoppers spend significantly more on overseas purchases than they do domestically as they believe international e-commerce platforms offer better products and service quality, a new report has said.

    The report, from the Vietnam E-commerce Association or VECOM, said that many global retailers like Amazon and eBay have made it easier for Vietnamese consumers to buy online.

    “Meanwhile, a majority of Vietnamese e-businesses, especially small- and medium-sized companies, have yet to make significant investments in market research catering to consumers,” said the report.

    Local online shopping sites are less competitive in terms of product diversity and quality, return policy, and order placement costs, the report highlighted.

    “I shop on both eBay and Amazon,” Quoc Hung, a reader said in a comment. “I can just send a product back if I don’t like it.”

    Most Vietnamese online businesses don’t offer free delivery and free return, another reader pointed out.

    Chinese online retail giant Alibaba is also attracting more Vietnamese customers. Internet company OSB, Alibaba’s authorized agent in Vietnam, said the company’s customer base in Vietnam has expanded to 500,000 after sharp increases over the past three years.

    The online shopping trend is growing rapidly in Vietnam, where 30 percent of the population will be buying goods and services over the internet by 2020, according to the Vietnam E-Commerce and Information Technology Agency.

    The agency, run by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said revenue from online retail is expected to account for 5 percent of the country’s retail market in 2020, up from only 2.8 percent in 2015.

    Vietnam’s e-commerce market, which has one of the world’s fastest growth rates, jumped 37 percent in 2015 to around $4 billion, based on government statistics.

    The growth rate is about 2.5 times faster than that in Japan, based on some estimates by industry experts.

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  • 86% of APAC organizations to adopt IoT by 2019

    86% of APAC organizations to adopt IoT by 2019

    Nearly nine in 10 (86%) organizations in In Asia-Pacific will have some form of IoT in place by 2019, according to results of a survey from Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s Aruba.

    Organizations across the enterprise, industrial, healthcare, retail and municipality sectors globally are adopting IoT to leverage the business benefits of enhanced efficiency and innovation, the research shows.

    But Aruba’s study warns that connecting thousands of things to existing business networks will open up new security challenges.

    The research also found that although 97% of the 1,150 respondents from Asia-Pacific (Australia, China, India, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea) have an understanding of IoT, many are still unclear of the exact definition of IoT and what value it brings to their organizations.

    In his new eBook, ‘Making Sense of IoT’, commissioned by Aruba, technology visionary Kevin Ashton—who coined the term ‘Internet of Things’— presents the following definition: “The ‘Internet of Things’ means sensors connected to the internet and behaving in an internet-like way by making open, ad hoc connections, sharing data freely and allowing unexpected applications, so computers can understand the world around them and become humanity’s nervous system.”

    When examining the business benefits of IoT, Ashton discovered that actual gains from IoT exceeded initial expectations on all fronts. In Asia Pacific, this ‘expectations dividend’ is most evident in two key performance areas: profitability and business efficiency.

    For instance, 35% of business leaders cited significant profit increases after deploying IoT, a 20% increase from those who projected a large profit gain from their IoT investment (15%).

    Similarly, while 39% of executives expected their IoT strategies to yield huge business efficiency improvements, actual results show that more than half of those who implemented IoT (51%) has experienced great business efficiency gains.

    “With the business benefits of IoT surpassing expectations, it’s no surprise that the business world will move towards mass adoption by 2019,” said Chris Kozup, VP of marketing at Aruba. “But with many executives unsure of how to apply IoT to their business, those who succeed in implementing IoT are well positioned to gain a competitive advantage.”

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  • Vietnam’s internet environment ranked 32nd in the world

    Vietnam’s internet environment ranked 32nd in the world

    The country is number one in the world for local content, but scores poorly on internet education.

    A new index that measures a country’s internet for its availability, affordability, relevance of content and public access has found that Vietnam is doing better than more than half of the world.

    The 2017 Inclusive Internet index compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit assessed 75 markets on how they enable the adoption and beneficial use of the internet.

    Vietnam stands in 32nd place overall for internet availability, affordability, relevance and readiness.

    The country stands above its Southeast Asian neighbors Indonesia and the Philippines, but far behind Malaysia, Thailand and the number 1 position holder Singapore.

    It performs “relatively strongly” in terms of relevance, with a global ranking of 18th out of 75, supported by a top score in local content.

    Many non-English-speaking markets have made considerable progress in ensuring that domestic internet users have content available to them in their country’s primary language, said the Economist.

    Vietnam is among 13 markets tied for first place in the local content category, along with China, Japan and Russia.

    But the country scores low in terms of internet readiness due to limited support for digital literacy and web accessibility, based on the index. Vietnam’s education and preparedness for internet use ranks 63rd worldwide.

    Availability ranks 40th worldwide with a high score for quality, but network infrastructure is poorly developed.

    Its affordability ranks 32nd with a top score for fixed-line monthly broadband costs.

    More than 49 million Vietnamese people, or more than half of the country’s population, are online.

  • Connectivity is not an asset, MWC told

    Connectivity is not an asset, MWC told

    Serial telecoms entrepreneur Alexey Reznikovich says that building an “enabled gateway” to customers is the key to survival for traditional telecoms players, who need to stop relying on the diminishing returns from connectivity.

    Speaking at a keynote session at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last week, Rezhikovich outlined how his company VimpelCom, now re-branded at VEON, planned to build that “enabled gateway” as he announced a free downloadable app which was a platform combining payments, entertainment and information services.

    NASDAQ listed but headquartered in Amsterdam, VEON has more than 200 million global customers. VEON is both the new name for VimpelCom and for the “new personal internet platform” which integrates data analytics and artificial intelligence and includes partnerships with brands such as Mastercard, Deezer, and STUDIO+.

    The company claims the app, which is free from data charges on VEON’s mobile networks, “tears down the archaic and inefficient bricks and mortar service model.”

    In his keynote, Reznikovich painted a dark vision of the current state of the telecoms industry, claiming that its “corporate and bureaucratic” culture was scaring away young talented people, who much preferred to work at internet companies such as Google and Amazon.

    “Young people don’t want to work for us,” he said.

    The telecoms industry had worked “very very hard” in the last five years but “nothing has moved the needle.” He likened the industry to a “squirrel in a wheel” that was going as fast as it could, but not getting anywhere and was now exhausted.

    “What are the three big lies of the telecoms industry?” Reznikovich said.

    “The first lie is that data monetisation is coming. Well we are still waiting.

    “The second is that we have billions of customers. Well are they really our customers or are they people who just tolerate us and are really customers of someone else?”

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  • Millennials still like traditional carriers, says CSG study

    Millennials still like traditional carriers, says CSG study

    More than one third of millennials – young people reaching adulthood in the 21stcentury – interviewed in a four country survey say that in five years’ time they will choose mobile services offered through a traditional carrier.

    This is one of the findings of a research study on the digital opinions of almost 1000 millenials in Australia, Brazil, the UK and the US conducted by BSS solutions provider CSG International, and released at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

    According to the research, 35% of respondents say they expect they will choose traditional carriers in 2022, while a lesser 33% believe they will choose a non-traditional player such as Google, Amazon, or a company yet to be identified.

    “So much of the industry talk is about the move away from traditional carriers to new entrants,” says CSG’s Ian Watterson.

    “The research gives encouragement to carriers that there is loyalty there from millennials, which is something of a surprise.”

    Watterson said CSG had conducted the study because the telecoms industry was continually anticipating the digital consumption patterns and tastes of millennials, and yet there was a lack of detailed research on this.

    Asking respondents to look five years into the future also gave some indication on where the industry might be heading.

    In other findings, the industry move to personal assistants was validated, with 53% of respondents saying they would pay more for a mobile service which included an assistant.

    49% of millennials say they will want their mobile phone service to become a more intuitive personal assistant with the ability to anticipate needs and take actions, such as automatically checking-in a for a flight, 24-hours before flight time

    The survey also showed a clear willingness to give providers access to providers if that resulted in more personalised services.

    More than seven out of ten millennials said they were likely to provide their data in exchange for personalised recommendations on entertainment services and small conveniences.

    In good news for telco revenues, 59% of millennials are likely to spend more for a service specifically customized to their usage patterns across voice, data, entertainment and other personalized services.

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  • IoT devices drive DDoS attack traffic in Q4

    IoT devices drive DDoS attack traffic in Q4

    Unsecured IoT devices continued to drive significant DDoS attack traffic in the fourth quarter of 2016, according to Akamai’s latest State of the Internet / Security Report.

    The fourth quarter report also revealed that attacks greater than 100 Gbps increased to 12 during the quarter, a 40% year-over-year increase.

    Seven of the 12 Q4 2016 mega attacks, those with traffic greater than 100 Gbps, can be directly attributed to the Mirai IoT botnet.

    But the largest DDoS attack in Q4 2016, which peaked at 517 Gbps, came from Spike, a non-IoT botnet that has been around for more than two years.

    The number of IP addresses involved in DDoS attacks grew significantly this quarter, despite DDoS attack totals dropping overall. The United States sourced the most IP addresses participating in DDoS attacks – more than 180,000.

    “With the predicted exponential proliferation of these devices, threat agents will have an expanding pool of resources to carry out attacks, validating the need for companies to increase their security investments,” said Martin McKeay, senior security advocate and senior editor of the report.

    “Additional emerging system vulnerabilities are expected before devices become more secure.”

    Of the 25 DDoS attack vectors tracked in Q4 2016, the top three were UDP fragment (27%), DNS (21%), and NTP (15%), while overall DDoS attacks decreased by 16 percent.

    Akamai started tracking a new reflection DDoS attack vector this quarter, Connectionless Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (CLDAP), which attackers abuse to amplify DDoS traffic.

    “If anything, our analysis of Q4 2016 proves the old axiom ‘expect the unexpected’ to be true for the world of web security,” continued McKeay.

    “For example, perhaps the attackers in control of Spike felt challenged by Mirai and wanted to be more competitive. If that’s the case, the industry should be prepared to see other botnet operators testing the limits of their attack engines, generating ever larger attacks.”

  • Money laundering all too easy in Vietnam?

    Money laundering all too easy in Vietnam?

    On February 16, the Hanoi People’s Court will resume a trial over corruption and money laundering charges against Vinashin Ocean Shipping Co., Ltd. (Vinashinlines).

    In this trial, defendant Giang Van Hien (67, Ho Chi Minh City) has been charged with helping his son and former director of sales at Vinashinlines Giang Kim Dat (born 1977) to embezzle more than VND259.5 billion ($11.4 million). More specifically, to evade the authorities, Dat told Hien to open 22 foreign currency bank accounts to keep the embezzled money.

    Dat used this money to invest in domestic real estates and transfer it abroad. Investigators have verified the sources of these assets and either froze or seized 40 domestic real estate properties, including lands, apartments, villas as well as properties in Singapore and apartments in the UK.

    Money laundering is not a new crime in Vietnam, but prosecution has been challenging because of difficulties in proving the offender or the crime. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of National Assembly meetings, Senior Lieutenant General Le Quy Vuong, Deputy Minister of Public Security, said the Giang Kim Dat case is a classic graft and money laundering case.

    In the Penal Code of 1999, this crime was defined in Article 251 as “laundering money and/or property obtained through the commission of crime,” but it was not until the modified Penal Code of 2009 that the term “money laundering” came into official use.

    The legal framework exists, but enforcement has been difficult. Experts said money laundering charges have been rare.

    Explaining this, Dr Dao Le Thu, director of the comparative legal research centre of Hanoi Law University, said the main reason was the difficulty in following the money trail. This is because financial transactions in Vietnam do not follow international standards and cash still plays a key role in the economy.

    Besides, regulations are still limited in several ways: there are no charges for self-laundering or for commercial entities, or the fact that the term “money obtained through crimes” in the penal code has not seen further clarification. Whereas other countries might categorise crimes by source or severity, Thu added.

    Article 324 of the 2015 Penal Code has defined money laundering behaviours more clearly  as “disguising the legal origin of the money or property obtained through one’s own criminal activities or that one knows to be obtained via another person’s criminal activities.” Therefore, proving money laundering could be easier than it used to be. However, the 2015 Penal Code’s entry into effect has been postponed.

    Item 1, Article 3 of Decree 74/2005/ND-CP dated June 7, 2005 on “prevention of money laundering” explains the concept of money laundering as the behaviour of individuals or organisations seeking to legitimise money or property through activities such as:

    • Joining directly or indirectly in a transaction involving money or property obtained through criminal activities

    • Acquiring, capturing, transiting, converting, transfering, transporting, using and cross-border transporting money or property obtained through the commission of crime

    • Investing in a project, a work, contribute capital to a business or find other ways to cloak or disguise or impede verification of origin, the true nature or location, the process of moving or ownership for the money or property obtained through the commission of crime
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