The impact of cloud, AI, and data on financial services

This opinion was shared at the conference at the Meliá Hotel in Hanoi on April 10. The conference was organised by the Vietnam Banks’ Association (VNBA) and PwC Vietnam, in collaboration with Amazon Web Services and Alation.

According to PwC’s 2023 Digital Banking Survey, more than half of surveyed banks (60 per cent) have mature cloud capabilities or are in the process of building their cloud capabilities, while 30 per cent are in the initial stages of planning and exploring cloud technology. This is a positive indicator in that banks are transitioning applications and workloads to the cloud to drive improved scalability and business resilience.

Additionally, PwC’s 2025 Global Compliance Survey highlights the growing adoption of AI in the financial sector, with 78 per cent of organisations planning or already implementing AI for data and predictive analytics, followed by fraud detection and compliance and transaction monitoring (67 per cent). This underscores AI’s increasing role as a key tool in optimising processes, enhancing predictive capabilities, and improving risk management in financial institutions.

The conference aimed to provide strategic and practical insights into cloud solutions application, AI integration, and data governance, whilst exploring the link between innovation and trust – a key factor that helps organisations create sustainable value in their digital transformation journey.

In his opening remarks at the conference, Nguyen Thanh Son, director of Training Centre, VNBA said, "Innovation must be based on data and mastering data technology. Currently, the financial services industry is leading this trend because the banking system has the advantage of holding a huge amount of highly sensitive customer data. Therefore, banks are actively implementing new technologies such as big data, AI, and machine learning. However, this also poses significant challenges for banks in controlling and processing the volume and quality of the data they have."

"This conference is crucial in providing banks with the knowledge and skills they need, updating development trends in the application of cloud computing, AI, and data solutions in financial institutions, and modern data management methods that help build trust and responsibility in AI applications. This is also an opportunity to connect developers, experts, investors, and business partners to create a strong digital ecosystem in the financial and banking sector, contributing to the promotion of digital economic development."

Discussions focused on the evolving trends in cloud, AI, and data adoption within financial institutions, the challenges of balancing data privacy with regulatory compliance, as well as modern approaches to data governance that foster trust and accountability in AI applications.

Experts emphasised the growing role of AI in finance and the challenges faced in implementing effective AI and data strategies. They proposed a structured approach to data and AI governance, including data preparation, analysis, AI implementation, and maintaining responsible AI governance frameworks.

Pho Duc Giang, partner of Digital, AI and Cybersecurity Services at PwC Vietnam said, "Effectively leveraging data through these advanced technologies can drive innovation, optimise operations, and strengthen risk management. This conference aims to provide strategically practical insights, helping financial institutions build a strong foundation of trust in an increasingly dynamic technology landscape."

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