On October 25, 2019 in Hanoi, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) in cooperation with the German Agency for International Cooperation (Deutsche Gesellschaft für International Zusammenarbeit - GIZ) in Vietnam organized the International Symposium on "Digital transformation in Banking and Finance system towards Financial Inclusion and Sustainable Development", which was chaired by SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh.
The Symposium was an important event looking forward to the future development of the Vietnamese banking system with the presence of various speakers, experts and representatives from the SBV, financial institutions from Asia and Europe.
The technology wave from the 4th Industrial Revolution (IR4.0) is making a strong impact on all socio-economic fields. For the banking sector, technologies and innovations have brought about many changes in the business models, business processes, product and service structures… Firstly, the IR4.0 has generated financial-banking products and services to meet the needs of people and businesses, and to contribute to promoting the financial inclusion and sustainable development.
At the Symposium, there were several presentations on the international experiences and perspectives, as well as practical implementation in Vietnam in relation to digital transformation in the fields of finance and banking, focusing on three main contents: (1) Strategic orientations and experiences in development cooperation in the process of digital transformation, especially in association with sustainable development and financial inclusion, which are the major goals that receive very high attention from the Government of Vietnam; (2) Developing a policy framework and regulations on digital transformation and financial technology (FinTech), including different policy and management approaches such as the UK experimental legal framework or regulatory sandbox in Germany and the European Union (EU); (3) Digital banking models, such as the digital banking model and strategy of the multinational bank Commerzbank, the digital transformation program and implementation of a major domestic bank.
SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh delivers the opening speech
At the same time, the participants at the Symposium also took time to discuss more carefully the above-mentioned themes, came up with practical suggestions for the SBV and the banking sector to successfully implement the digital transformation in the finance-banking system.
The speakers exchange and answer questions of the delegates
As reported by the SBV, mobile payment growth in the first quarter of 2019 in Vietnam increased by 232% in value and by 98% in number of transactions as compared to the first quarter of 2018. According to PwC's 2019 Global Consumer Survey for 27 countries/territories, Vietnam is the fastest growing market for mobile payments in 2019, the percentage of consumers making mobile payments in Vietnam has increased to 61% compared with 37% in 2018.
Speaking at the Symposium, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Kim Anh, SBV Deputy Governor, emphasized the importance of digital transformation in the banking system: “A draft scheme on national digital transformation” has set the goal of developing Digital Banking and FinTech in 2020 to reduce the cash ratio on the total payment instruments to less than 10%. He also said: “The SBV needs to quickly develop a policy, legal and regulatory framework, especially the regulations on risk management, as a security corridor for the outstanding development of FinTech and Digital Banking in the coming time.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Sebastian Paust - First Counsellor, Head of Development Cooperation at the German Embassy in Hanoi, emphasized the effective cooperation between Germany and Vietnam through the traditional cooperation relationship between the GIZ and the SBV; especially the idea of associating digital transformation with financial inclusion and sustainable development goals. The German Counsellor also introduced the German Development Cooperation Strategy on supporting digital transformation and said that recently the German BMZ has significantly increased the funding for digital projects, of which Asia is the main focus. He also expressed his commitment to continue to support Vietnam and the finance and banking system to successfully implement the digital transformation program.
Dr Michael Krakowski, Director and Chief Technical Advisor of the Macroeconomic Reforms/Green Growth Programme, said: “The digitization process and the rapid changes of technology have opened up great potentials to overcome capital shortages and support the implementation of the goals of greening the economy and developing sustainably development”. He also expressed his commitment to contribute to the process of developing and finalizing the financial and digital banking policies and regulations in Vietnam in order to promote the achievements of green, sustainable banking and financial cooperation goals.
VA