More fintech partnerships established to ride digital baking wave

CIMB has teamed up with Finhay and Mambu has joined Timo Plus and Cake to drive digital baking in Vietnam

Digital bank CIMB has teamed up with micro-investment platform Finhay to unveil its latest virtual credit card for the Vietnamese markets. The launch of the CIMB-Finhay virtual credit card is expected to help Vietnamese customers minimise direct contact and travelling during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With a video KYC (know-your-customer) process, it only takes five minutes for users to complete the registration to open the account. With a credit limit of VND5 to 100 million($220-4,350), customers can spend and receive instant cashback with interest-free terms up to 45 days.

Commenting on the digital banking push, Thomson Fam Siew Kat, CEO of CIMB Vietnam, said, "We hope that digital banking services can be widely applied in Vietnam. Currently, we are not only building a digital bank but also step-by-step creating a future operating model for CIMB Vietnam."

He noted that customers can hardly tell the difference between the almost identical banking products of banks. That is why CIMB decided to provide retail banking products combined with technology products to provide users with truly unique experiences through cooperation with Finhay.

"Together with our partners, we aim to become not just a digital bank but a lifestyle company, creating services that can touch the daily lives of customers. We will make that happen with the aspiration to deliver the best experiences with each product," he stated.

Last year, CIMB Bank also collaborated with South Korean financial app Toss to launch a co-branded virtual card aimed at building an active community for the young generation and bringing fintech closer to everyday life.

Likewise, banking technology vendor Mambu has formed a partnership with two digital banks in Vietnam, namely Timo Plus and Cake by VPBank. Timo Plus was the first digital banking offering to launch in Vietnam back in 2016. Meanwhile, Cake was launched in January 2021 following a collaboration between Be Group and VPBank.

Another digital bank Übank has partnered with an engagement banking platform Backbase to leverage Backbase-as-a-Service 1 (BaaS) managed cloud service for its Engagement Banking Platform.

In a new study conducted by Forrester Consulting, commissioned by Backbase, 54 per cent of Vietnamese banking consumers say it is critical for their bank to provide them with digital money management tools. However, 28 per cent of banking decision-makers said their organisation had "no interest in" or was "removing" its digital banking offering. What’s concerning is that 74 per cent of Vietnamese banks are unsure of how to partner with fintechs.

This indicates that there is still ample room for fintech partnerships to form in Vietnam. The disruptors are expected to gain the first-mover advantage in the country's burgeoning digital banking landscape.