This art-deco building, built by the French, housed the Bank of Indochina. During the French occupation, the colonial government governed the Indochinese monetary system through this bank, which also played the role of commercial bank in French Indochina.
After the revolution of August 1945, the government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam gradually establishes a monetary system independent of France. On May 6, 1951, President Hồ Chí Minh signed a decree creating the National Bank of Vietnam (Ngân hàng Qungc gia Việt Nam).
In the early 1960s, the governor of the bank signed an order on behalf of the prime minister to rename it the State Bank of Vietnam (Ngân hàng Nhà nước Việt Nam).
Subsequently, new banks were created, starting with the Vietnam Industrial and Commercial Bank (VietinBank – now the largest publicly traded bank).