The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of the Operational Self-Sustainability (OSS) of Vietnamese microfinance institutions (MFIs). This research uses both qualitative and quantitative research methods: (i) qualitative research was via in-depth interviews with ten microfinance practitioners, policymakers and researchers; (ii) quantitative research was conducted by using panel data of 34 MFIs in the period 2011-2015 with binary logistics and OLS regressions. Results are as follows: (i) MFIs’ OSS in Vietnam are mainly determined by five key factors: portfolio at risk (PAR>30), capital structure, gross loan portfolio, scope of activities and legal form; (ii) OSS are most affected by legal status (social organizations have better OSS than formal MFIs or programs/projects), location (MFIs focus in one province have higher OSS than working nationwide or just in one district), capital structure (MFIs with more equity proportion have higher OSS); (iii) surprisingly, average loan size per borrower and age of MFIs do not have statistically significant correlation with OSS. The key recommendations are: (i) MFIs should focus on its professionality and increase its equity; (ii) related stakeholders such as State Bank of Vietnam should promote the enabling ecosystem for microfinance development to enhance poverty reduction and economic development.

The purpose of this study is to discover the interaction between credit growth and operational self-sustainability and to examine factors that affect credit growth and operational self-sustainability of people's credit funds (PCFs). Credit growth and operational self-sustainability are factors affecting the operations and the goals of people's credit funds (PCFs) in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. After regression analysis on a set of panel data from 2013 to 2018 of 24 PCFs, it appears that deposit growth and loan-to-deposit ratio have positive relationships with credit growth, while capital adequacy ratio and operational self-sustainability have negative relationships with credit growth of PCFs; capital adequacy ratio, deposit growth and income have positive relationships with operational self-sustainability, while credit growth and non-performing loan ratio have negative relationships with the operational self-sustainability of PCFs. At the same time, credit growth and operational self-sustainability have a relationship to interact with each other in a contrary trend. The results of this research are accurate according to the characteristics and development history of PCFs in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam from 2013-2018. This study helps researchers and managers to understand the key determinants for better management of PCFs.