On September 12, 2018, at the headquarters of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu had a meeting with a delegation of Citibank led by Mr. Alberto Cribiore, Vice Chairman of Institutional Clients Group at Citigroup Inc.
Also attending the meeting were Ms.Catherine Simmons, Managing Director and Head of Government Affairs for Asia Pacific at Citigroup Inc.; Ms. Natalia Ansell, Citibank Vietnam Chief Country Officer (CCO) and Citibank Vietnam specialists. On the side of the SBV, there were representatives from the Payment Department, the International Cooperation Department, the SBV Office and the Banking Supervision Agency.
At the meeting, Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu expressed his pleasure to welcome Mr. Alberto Cribiore and his colleagues to work with the SBV on the occasion of the World Economic Forum on ASEAN (WEF ASEAN) 2018. He highly appreciated the role of Citibank, the world's leading bank with a proven track record of providing financial and banking services to multinational corporations. Citibank is an important bridge for further expansion of the investment and trade relations, as well as the development of friendly cooperative relations among countries, and especially the comprehensive partnership between Vietnam and the United States.
Recognizing Citibank Vietnam's contributions to the development of Vietnam's finance and banking sector, the SBV Deputy Governor expected Citibank to continue with its effective investment activities in Vietnam. At the same time, regarding the potentials for cooperation with Citibank in programs and activities related to the fourth industrial revolution and the digitalization of the banking sector, Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu said that the SBV welcomes in principle the transition to digital banking of all banks operating in Vietnam, aiming at promoting e-payments in e-commerce. This is one of the objectives of the "E-Commerce Development Master Plan for the period of 2016-2020” of the Government of Vietnam with regard to the promotion of non-cash payments.
In the coming time, the SBV wishes Citibank as well as foreign banks operating and doing business in Vietnam to keep on implementing the cooperation activities to support the commercial banks in Vietnam by sharing experience in innovations on financial reform towards the digital banking model. At the meeting, the SBV Deputy Governor also shared that in addition to actively participating in providing information, sharing experience and providing advice for the SBV's policy-making processes, Citibank may continue to cooperate with the SBV to organize seminars, training workshops... related to the process of digital banking and Fintech development.
For his part, Vice President Alberto Cribiore expressed his sincere thanks to Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu for his hospitality, and congratulated Vietnam on having successfully organized WEF ASEAN 2018. He also thanked the SBV for supporting Citibank over the past time, while emphasizing the relationship between the SBV and Citibank is very important for Citibank's operations in Vietnam. He affirmed that Citibank, with its strengths in modern payment technology platform, is ready to share and support the SBV with its experience and understanding of the digital payment system. He committed that in Vietnam, Citibank may not be the largest bank, but will strive to become the best bank. He also expressed his confidence that, the cooperative relations between Citibank and the banking industry will further develop.
Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu and Citigroup delegation
Le Hang