Efforts of the Vietnamese in finance sector in Cochinchina during the colonial period: the case of Vietnam Bank (Société annamite de crédit)

In feudal society, Vietnamese spent the most care on study Confusim to become courting and agriculture production. Trade and handicrafts were considered secondary in the economic thinking of Vietnamese. When capitalism followed France's conquest path into Vietnam, Vietnamese became a community that adapted slowly to change in the economy. Among difficulties of the reforming thinking and economic activities process, the finance sector was considered the most restrictive field of Vietnamese. In 1912, the Association of Mutual Agriculture was born in Cochinchina became the first experiment of Vietnamese in the finance sector. However, due to the limited financial potential, these agricultural associations depend on loans from Indochina Bank. In 1919, with the rising national spirit in the movement to boycott Chinese overseas, the plan to set up a financial association named the Vietnam Bank had appeared but unsuccessful. Eight years later, the first bank of the Vietnamese was established and called by Vietnam bank, reflecting Vietnamese's efforts to build the financial association independent from foreign businessmen. That is the result of combining the economic strength and national spirit rising in the patriotic movement of indigenous elites in the late 1920s.