Spurring e-banking development

E-banking and mobile banking will become an indispensable trend

Great development opportunities

According to the International Data Group (IDG) in Vietnam CEO Le Thanh Tam, technological application in the Vietnamese banking sector has become clearer in 2015 with a series of convenient banking services. E-banking and mobile banking will become an indispensable trend in the coming time.

According to commercial banks, Vietnam’s population has reached more than 92 million and 55 percent of them have used smart phones to access the internet for at least two hours per day. Strong growth of payment cards has also clearly reflected the popularity of consumer trend not using cash. Huynh Song Hao from the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) said that e-commerce was strongly developing in Vietnam with sales of US$2 billion in 2013, US$2.97 billion in 2014 and around US$4.13 billion in 2015, opening many opportunities for commercial banks to deploy retail products and services.

The Nielsen report conducted at the Vietnam Retail Banking Forum 2015 held in late November shows that e-banking would become a new trend in the coming time. As many as 30 commercial banks participated in the e-banking market by 2014 compared to 19 in 2012. Vietnamese consumers have highly appreciated the efforts of commercial banks in information technology development with 87 percent of positive responses for mobile banking services and nearly 60 percent for e-banking services.

Competition by products and security

The retail banking market in the country remains potential as around 30 percent of the population have bank accounts and retail activities account for just 20 percent of total sales in banking operations. To develop retail banking services in order to compete with foreign banks, domestic banks should outline specific directions. Huynh Song Hao said that promoting the development of the retail banking market remained difficult as Vietnamese people retain cash habit. In addition, management agencies have not yet applied appropriate support policies. Competition will also make domestic banks difficult as foreign banks have advantages in terms of experience, technology and financial potential.

Difficulties facing electronic payments or via smart phones remain huge as people concern about safety and security. Dinh Van Chien from the Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank (TPBank) said that consumers have put high expectations in experiencing smart and persified banking products and services. Therefore, ensuring high security for those products and services is needed.

Daniel Wolfram, Head of Business Solutions Team for the FIS Financial Solutions Group in ASEAN and North Asia said that commercial banks should pay attention to the application of modern technologies and enhance the deployment of products and services such as e-banking and mobile banking.

Gia Huy