SCB forges ahead to use Industry 4.0’s potential

Industry 4.0 will provide momentum for development of the Vietnamese banking sector

State Bank Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh once said that the digital era is taking humanity by storm, ushering in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) with its distinct technologies such as Internet of Things, Big Data, cloud computing, AI, 3D printing, and blockchain.

Concepts such as digital economy, digital banking, and fintech have become buzzwords among the business community, local people, and managers. Digitalising all banking transactions has brought a turnaround in financial services development in the 21st century.

Disruptive technologies have given birth to a plethora of financial products and service provision channels. Transactions can now take place simply through a touch, a mouse click or a QR code. Financial products and services are being designed on simpler platforms such as peer-to-peer (P2P) lending or mobile payment.

“Not only payment, but many other services such as savings, investment, insurance, and borrowing now occur at a much quicker pace compared to traditional financial services models,” said Kim Anh.

The Vietnamese government and the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) have presented a raft of guidelines and policies to approach the Industry 4.0 and gear the banking sector toward modernity.

Several banks have swiftly engaged in research and development to keep up with contemporary trends and apply cutting-edge technologies in service provision, from there bringing fresh experiences to their customers and gradually giving a facelift to the banking sector, which has become more modern and increasingly professional.

2016-2017 was the transition period for SCB to carve a spot among the most trusted and versatile retail and modern banks in Vietnam, providing all-in-one financial solutions to customers.

Towards this goal, SCB has made well-rounded preparations, from human resources and infrastructure to technology, products, and services. Particularly, its intensive investment in technology innovations has helped the bank bolster information security, simultaneously bringing the bank’s IT operations up to the level of the sector’s leading players.

SCB has deployed a string of technology projects as well as eminent products and services. From August 2017, the bank put a strong emphasis on upgrading its core banking and digital banking systems with Oracle’s latest version, Flexcube 12.4. The project was finalised one year later and went live from September 2018, helping the bank to mitigate risks while bringing fresh utilities to customers.

Additionally, SCB has made various studies and applied state-of-the art technologies to its operation. It has successfully implemented FIS’ Front Arena Treasury system, which follows international standards, to boost efficiency of forex business, as well as applying budget management and automatic ordering programmes (purchasing order), giving birth to new products and services such as e-invoice and digital signature services, using QR codes on savings accounts to enhance privacy, and scaling up the use of smart payment methods such as Samsung Pay, QR Pay, and e-wallets to improve customers’ convenience.

“In addition to the time savings and convenience that technologies can bring, SCB has paid due heed to information privacy. Early this year, SCB was for the second time certified by the global organisation ControlCase, receiving its Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) certificate, version 3.2,” said Le Minh Huan, deputy CEO of the bank’s IT Division.

“This is the latest version, with more stringent requirements on information privacy and security in payment card distribution and acceptance. We expect information technology will provide the fulcrum that enables SCB to gain an edge in the financial market,” Huan added.

It is believed that with proper guidance and policies from the Vietnamese government as well as drastic measures from the banking sector, Industry 4.0 will provide momentum for development and be comprehensively applied in the entire Vietnamese banking sector.