A joint venture between ViaInvest’s parent company, VIA SMS Group, and Twino has permanently ceased operations in Vietnam as a result of what they describe as “repressive measures” by local regulators towards lenders.

Via SMS predicts the entire non-bank lending sector in Vietnam will be affected.

“It is important to emphasise that the suspension of operations in Vietnam was not a proactive decision made by Twino Group and the VIA SMS Group. However, the unforeseen and increasingly challenging local business environment has left us with no alternative but to discontinue our operations,” Via SMS noted.

While the joint venture between the two European peer-to-peer lending groups , named VAMO.vn, had sought to co-operate with local supervisory authorities, it said there had been a “significant shift” in the regulators’ attitude towards the industry. The company added that this led to a growing number of “repressive measures” against businesses providing lending services.

“Due to an increasingly negative investment environment in Vietnam and concerns over our employee safety, we made the decision to run down our operations in this country,” Via SMS explained.

Read more: ViaInvest hires new risk director, debuts new offerings

ViaInvest also took the opportunity to inform investors that the Vietnam business credit has been fully repaid.

The joint venture had been in place since 2019.

Philippines update

Following Twino’s announcement that it would exit the Philippines business, Via SMS reassured investors this would not impact the repayment of the Philippines business loans on ViaInvest.

“Additionally, we’re pleased to share that all securities backed by the Philippines loans have been fully repaid,”

The joint venture in the Phillippines proved to be short-lived, having been announced back in September of last year.

Read more: ViaInvest settles Swedish cession repayments