Digital banks increasingly adopt new technologies to keep pace with consumer expectations

Digital banks increasingly adopt modern technologies to meet customers' changing habits

CIMB Bank Vietnam has recently launched its Revi credit card, which utilises video electronic Know Your Customer (video eKYC) – one of the latest banking technologies in Vietnam.

With this new onboarding process, customers can open a credit account completely online. Instead of the traditional face-to-face method, Revi’s account opening process is simplified and takes only four steps and can be done within five minutes.

CIMB staff will make a video call directly with users to verify the information. After completing the registration procedure, a physical card will be delivered to the customer after 3-5 working days. By then, users can activate the card and set spending limits, check for their bank statement, lock and unlock the card, or even reset PIN codes if needed.

The new solution will eliminate the requirement of going to the branch while ensuring security criteria at the same time. CIMB not only manages the onboarding process closely, but also makes sure customers information is strictly confidential.

“Along with the launch of the Revi credit card, we hope to satisfy customers’ needs quickly, conveniently, and immediately. This would contribute to promoting non-cash payments, which the government and the State Bank of Vietnam are encouraging.” a CIMB representative said.

Likewise, digital bank Cake has formed a partnership with BPC's payment processing provider Radar Payments to scale its offering towards a full suite of digital banking services. This collaboration also represents the first SaaS project that BPC's Radar Payments has undertaken in Vietnam.

Another digital bank, Übank, has also partnered with Backbase – a global engagement banking platform – leveraging their Backbase-as-a-Service (BaaS) managed cloud service for its platform to enhance the bank’s mobile banking experiences and offerings.

Meanwhile, Timo partnered with SaaS cloud banking platform Mambu to leverage the benefits of a cloud platform as it scales its business to a full-service digital bank. With plans to further grow its ecosystem of strategic partners across different industries to enable maximum convenience for customers, Timo will be relying on Mambu’s agile and responsive cloud platform to continue powering Timo’s development.

Digital banks are accelerating operations in Vietnam to serve the rising demand. The latest "Financial tribes you need to know" report by Mambu reveals that around 85 per cent of Vietnamese banking consumers are more likely to use online and digital banking services compared to 18 months ago. Approximately 90 per cent of respondents use online and digital banking services mostly to pay bills, transfer money, and check account balances.

The report also shows that 87 per cent of local banking customers agreed with the importance of online and digital banking services in a bank or financial institution. Over 80 per cent of respondents prefer to save or invest rather than spend money – the highest rates of all surveyed markets.

With the growing preference for digital banking services among customers, the government also takes action to support the trend. On May 11, Decision No.810/QD-NHNN on approving the plan for the digital transformation of the banking sector by 2025 with orientations towards 2030 was promulgated by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) with an ambitious objective to gradually create solid legal foundations for the development of digital bank models, and to set out the roadmap and clearly state nine implementation solutions for digital bank models.

The SBV not only helps credit institutions take the right steps, in line with the general global trend, but also helps accelerate the national digital transformation and brings sustainable and practical values to the country. With this new move, the legal framework and policies in payment-related activities will continue to be improved for the application of new technologies and hopefully introduce a license for registration of digital banks, leading to the booming of this model in Vietnam in the near future.