On August 21st 2018, in Hanoi, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) together with the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) co-organized the Workshop on “Development and application of scientific and technological achievements in the banking sector”. This is an activity within the framework of the Vietnam Innovation Network Program 2018, contributing to the development of the Scheme on Impact Assessment and the National Strategy on the Industrial Revolution 4.0 (taking place from August 18 – 24, 2018).
Overview of the Workshop
The participants in the workshop included Asso. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Kim Anh - Deputy Governor of the SBV, Chairperson of the Workshop, along with representatives from other government ministries and agencies. The conference was also attended by speakers from Vietnam and abroad, who are experts in the fields of technology, finance - banking and information security.
In his opening remarks, SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh stated that recognizing the importance, potentials and strong impacts of science and technology on the banking sector, on August 8th 2018, the Prime Minister officially approved the Development Strategy of Vietnam Banking Sector to 2025 with Orientations to 2030. In this Strategy, the importance of developing and applying scientific and technological achievements in the banking sector and developing modern banking products and services, enhancing access to the banking services are identified as two of the many key tasks and solutions in the banking sector’s strategy in the coming years.
It can be seen that the Industry 4.0 applications will help banks to improve their profitability and ensure high readiness of the system in meeting the customers' needs for e-banking services. As the transparency is getting improved, Vietnamese consumers will have more opportunities to access advanced financial services both at home and abroad. This will help promote the domestic banks to a new height, to develop and compete with advanced banks in the region and in the world.
SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh delivers his opening remarks
Advances from the digital revolution prior to the Industry 4.0 will create favorable conditions for Vietnamese banks to have the opportunities to attract investment capital, taking advantages of being the late comers to receive support, technical advice, training on new knowledge from foreign banks and partners, as well as strategic investors in the application of modern management and business frameworks, to adopt smart banking models and develop new products with high technological content.
"In order to develop and implement the tasks and orientations of the Government in applying scientific and technological achievements in the banking activities, it is necessary to emphasize the contributions of the scientific and technological experts. The Workshop was an opportunity for local and foreign experts and scientists to share their experience and to come up with appropriate recommendations on innovation and application of scientific and technological achievements in the banking activities", said SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh.
The Workshop also discussed the orientations for the development and application of scientific and technological achievements in the banking sector in Vietnam with many discussion topics such as: Bank - Fintech cooperation; Application of new technologies on current infrastructure to meet the modern payment demands; Application of technological achievements in the field of Mobile Payment.
In particular, the Workshop focused on the technological trends, breakthrough solutions that are attracting a lot of attention and being developed by banks and payment intermediaries in order to implement and to improve the operational efficiency, enhance the quality of customer services, focusing on the approach to the achievements of the Industry 4.0 for the development and practical application in the banking operations. The Workshop also talked about the difficulties and challenges encountered in the application of scientific and technological achievements in the banking activities, such as security, confidentiality, customer information and risk management…
Mr. Tran Cong Quynh Lan - Deputy General Director of VietinBank presents at the Workshop
In order to catch up with the development trends of science and technology, Vietnamese banks have proactively researched and invested in a number of technological achievements of the Industry 4.0 with regards to their products, services, operations and governance. Most remarkably is the practical implementation of the digital platforms, such as: Cloud Computing, Big data, Artificial Intelligence, new applications and solutions such as biometric authentication, open data exchange via the Open Application Programming Interfaces (OpenAPIs)...in order to improve the operational efficiency and enrich the customers’ experiences.
In addition to the emergence and application of digital technologies in the banking activities, there is the development and expansion of the domestic financial service ecosystem with the presence of financial technology (Fintech) firms, which provide financial solutions based on breakthrough technologies in order to meet the increasing demands for e-commerce, diversified operations of the digital economy, and better meet the needs of consumers in the digital age. The trend of cooperation based on mutual benefits and combined strengths between the Banks and Fintech is the main development trend in the financial market of Vietnam today.
Mr. Nghiem Thanh Son, Deputy Director General of the SBV’s Department of Payment presents at the Workshop
Mr. Nghiem Thanh Son, Deputy Director of the SBV’s Payment Department, Deputy Chairman of the SBV’s Fintech Steering Committee stated that the Industrial Revolution 4.0 has fundamentally changed the business and governance models of banks, towards the trend of digital banking; completely transformed the distribution channels towards digitalized and Omni-channel, which requires the re-design of the products and services to be more customer-centric.
The impacts of the Industry 4.0 have made the financial market infrastructure, which includes the payment systems, to change to adapt. The resources of the banking and finance sector have to be transformed to be more streamlined, more digitally skillful and professional. However, the impacts of the Industry 4.0 on the banking sector have also made the risks of cybersecurity greater and more permanent, due to the open, continuous, multidimensional and complex connections.
Panel discussion on "Development and application of scientific and technological achievements in the banking sector"
During the panel discussion at the Workshop, the panelists being technological experts, representatives of several commercial banks, payment intermediaries and NAPAS, discussed enthusiastically about such topics as: Technological trends in the banking sector; new approaches to technology; the achievements of the Industry 4.0 to be implemented and applied in practice in the banking operations; the international best practices in deploying the applications in the banking sector.
VA