Within the framework of the Industry 4.0 Summit 2019 held in Hanoi on October 2-3, 2019, on the afternoon of October 2, 2019, a Conference Session themed Smart Banking: “Accelerating digital transformation in banking”. The Session was under the co-chairmanship of Mr. Nguyen Hong Son, Deputy Chairman of the Central Economic Commission (CEC) and Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV).
In the recent years, Vietnam's banking industry has been a pioneer in joining the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Specifically, Vietnamese commercial banks have quickly adapted to and applied financial technologies (Fintech) to banking operations, such as mobile and QR code payments, electronic wallets, tokenization, payments via chip cards for domestic cards, etc. Those strong transformations have helped Vietnam’s banking sector improve its competitiveness and expand the access to banking services of all people, especially those in the rural and remote areas.
Speaking at the Conference Session, Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh emphasized that digital transformation and digital banking have become an inevitable necessity to help banks overcome the challenges, create competitive advantages, proactively adapt to and develop sustainably in the context of the Industry 4.0 and the emergence of a digital economy.
Vietnam has many favorable conditions for the development of digital banking thanks to its large population of 96 million people, a golden population structure (56 million people participating in the labor market); the smart phone ownership ratio is quite high (72%), with 62 million subscribers with 3G/4G internet connection, and a young population who are fancy of technologies. Vietnamese banks are well aware of the importance of digital banking transformation; therefore, over the past time, they have proactively studied and tried new technologies for applying to their business operations and have initially achieved certain results.
Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh said that in the spirit of promoting innovations and a customer-centered approach, the SBV has supported the digital transformation in the banking sector through the following orientations: improving the legal frameworks and mechanisms in the banking sector to catch up with the Industry 4.0, creating favorable conditions to promote business models and business governance in the banking sector toward forging breakthroughs and innovations, while still focusing on ensuring cyber security and protecting consumers’ rights, as well as limiting risks.
An overview of the Session
At the Conference Session, speakers and attendants discussed the following substances: Digital transformation: The future of Vietnam's banking industry; Digital transformation strategy of commercial banks in Vietnam: Experience of commercial banks; Application of Big Data and Technology in banking operations - Experience for financial institutions in Vietnam; Cognitive computing application for finance and banking operations in the digital era; Banking industry in digital transformation: Opportunities and Challenges…
Besides, many commercial banks also participated in the Industry 4.0 Expo 2019. At the exhibition booths of Viecombank, Vietinbank, HDbank, Tienphongbank, etc., customers are introduced and could have personal experience with the new, modern banking services which have been developed on the basis of digital banking applications.
Le Hang