On July 13th, 2018, in Hanoi, the Conference “The Next Generation of Banking & Finance in the Fourth Industrial Revolution” was held within the framework of the event "Industry 4.0 Summit & Expo 2018", which was co-hosted by the Government and the Central Economic Commission.
Overview of the Conference
This is the Session 4 of the High Level Forum: “The vision and development strategy in the fourth industrial revolution” dedicated to the banking and finance sector, co-chaired by the leaders of the Central Economic Commission, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and the Ministry of Finance (MOF).
Attending the Conference were Mr. Ngo Van Tuan – Vice Chairman of the Central Economic Commission and Asso.Prof. Dr. Nguyen Kim Anh, Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) along with the many representatives of the Goverment ministries, agencies, local authorities, international organizations, associations, commercial banks, financial institutions, information technology enterprises, domestic and international production and service businesses, international experts, scientists and various media organizations. The Organizing Committee of the Conference had received many discussion papers from various experts, representatives from state management agencies, national and international corporations, contributing to clarifying many contents under the theme of the session.
Prof. Ph.D. Nguyen Kim Anh, SBV Deputy Governor speaks at the Conference
Speaking at the conference, SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh stressed that “Vietnam and the banking-finance sector in Vietnam cannot be left out of the circle of influence of the Fourth Industrial Revolution." The banking sector is widely implementing new breakthrough technologies, with the waves of Fintech as the highlight in the financial services industry. High expectations and changed behaviors of consumers in the digital era, the tendencies of innovative management and heading more towards consumer protection are key trends that are changing the face of the financial services industry in the world, in the region and in Vietnam.
In this new context, the consumers will be the beneficiaries of the innovation in the financial services industry. They enjoy more benefits such as reduced transaction costs, convenient transactions via multiple channels, anytime, anywhere, and have a wide choice of products and services from a variety of financial service providers. Moreover, the innovation on the digital platform will play an important role in the financial inclusion by enhancing the reachout of financial services to those people who previously did not have a bank account, or had difficulties in accessing financial services.
In order to improve the operational efficiency and to increase the customer experience, many banks in Vietnam have already been starting the digital transition towards becoming a real digital bank; implementing a number of innovative and creative banking services. Regarding the banking-Fintech cooperation, Vietnamese banks have been actively cooperating with Fintech organizations to provide intermediary payment services licensed by the SBV, to take advantage of streamlined business models, towards customer experience and Fintech innovation combined with a strong risk management framework, the broad client base of the banks to create a synergy of strength in providing the services. Thus, the cooperation will create a new step in the development of Vietnam's banking and finance sector, bringing about practical benefits of reducing costs, increasing customers’ convenience and contributing effectively to the efforts of financial inclusion in the rural and remote areas.
Mr. Pham Tien Dung – Director General of the SBV Payment Department presents at the Conference
As a pioneer in the application of information technology with many modernization projects and a favorable environment from the expanding process of international integration, the banking and financial sector is facing great opportunities to actively embrace the fourth industrial revolution. With the current 13th-largest population in the world and forecast to reach 100 million by 2025, and the internet-connected smartphones user ratio in 2017 was 55%, higher than the global average of 44%, Vietnam is considered one of the countries with favorable conditions for the rapid development and modernization of the banking and financial sector, making full use of the achievements of the fourth industrial revolution.
Many speakers presented at the Conference, discussing various aspects such as: Report on the impacts of the fourth industrial revolution on the banking-finance sector and policy suggestions; The role and application of the technological foundation of the fourth industrial revolution in the development of the financial market; The potentials and applications of Blockchain in Vietnam; Building a sustainable security infrastructure for financial institutions; Security solutions for mobile financial transactions; Applying technology 4.0 in banking innovation, etc. Various topics were raised by the management agencies, the commercial banks deploying solutions, the experts / technology firms providing consultancy and solutions,… gave us a multi-dimensional perspective, an overview of the development trends, opportunities, and implementation challenges to help the banking and finance industry adapt to the 4.0 era.
VA