The awards ceremony was held for the Special Financial Service under the Central Committee for South Vietnam and the Special Fund in Hanoi on June 9.

The Special Fund (B29) was a special payment unit responsible for mobilising sources of foreign currencies to support southern Vietnam and work out different ways of providing financial assistance to battlefields in the south before submitting them for approval by the Party’s Central Committee.

B29 also held responsibility for ensuring the supply of foreign currencies to the frontlines in any circumstances, protecting and converting its foreign reserves into different currencies to avoid losses due to currency devaluation and resorting to every means to gain a higher interest to increase the State’s foreign reserves.

The Special Financial Service (N2638) was entrusted with receiving budget allocations and changing the money into other currencies such as those circulated under the Saigon regime and Cambodian Riels to fund underground organisations. N2638 also served as the Central Committee for South Vietnam’s coffers in service of the prolonged war of resistance.

The two units operated for 10 years from 1965 to 1975 and made an enormous contribution to the final victory.
In his speech, State President Triet called on the banking sector to uphold its patriotic traditions from the past to serve the country’s current national development.

On the occasion, the State Bank of Vietnam posthumously presented the Independence Order and the Labour Order to its former leaders for their long-term contributions to the system’s founding and development.