Vietnamese banks urged to go digital

Digital banking poses opportunities and challenges to the Vietnamese banking system. - Photo dantri.com.vn

The conference themed “Digital bank - the future of banking?” was held in Ha Noi last week.

At the conference, experts discussed challenges to the security of digital banking and the future of banking.

Digital banking poses opportunities and challenges to the Vietnamese banking system, said Tu.

Digital banking was different from traditional banking, forcing banks to continuously learn and develop, he said.

William Anthony Jennings, vice chairman of the management board of the Institute of Manpower, Banking and Finance said that the digital technology era for banks had arrived.

Up to 50 per cent of customers would want to switch to digital banking soon, said the vice chairman. He advised banks to consider the trend and plan accordingly.

At the workshop, Douglas Jackson, regional director in the Southeast Asia for Boston Consulting Group (BCG), said that Vietnamese customers were still dependant on cash transactions.

Thus, it was necessary for customers to change their thinking first before banks’ thinking changed, he said.

Viet Nam is a young country, whose human resources are in the golden population structure, which creates young human resources using digital technology, according to Jackson.

Dang Tuyet Dung, deputy general director of Maritime Bank, said that the bank had implemented digital banking. "Currently, the services we offer for our customers include not only internet banking but also combo packages”.

Recently, as customers at big banks lost money due to online fraud, many blamed the lost money on weak security of banks.

"Investments to improve information technology infrastructure and enhance security is crucial. Besides the general principles of security applying to the entire commercial banking system under the direction of the State Bank, banks also need to develop their own security measures," said Phan Thai Dung, deputy director of the Informatics Technology Department under The State Bank.

At the conference, the BCG revealed the findings of study of 200 clients, which are financial institutions, to find their difficulties in digital banking.

The results showed that though banks have many routes they lack a common vision for digital banking. Interfaces and systems are not integrated, infrastructures are outdated and ability to access multi-channel data is poor.

However, according to Douglas Jackson, if banks can overcome these obstacles, the benefits of digital banking are huge such as increasing revenue and market share, improved performance and a competitive advantage versus competitors which can not afford digital features.