Unbroken momentum after 25 years

Vietnam is gathering spotlight as it strides into a new era revolving entirely around being better connected, faster, and smarter. Foreign banks are done seizing up Vietnam and are ready to wade deeper in, following the likes of ANZ Vietnam, which celebrates its 25th anniversary in the country this year.

How do you see Vietnam’s economic development? What strikes you as the most impressive aspect of the Vietnamese economy?

Farhan Faruqui and Jodi West at ANZ Vietnam’s 25th anniversary celebration

Faruqui: In the past 20 years, the Vietnamese economy has been performing incredibly well with GDP growth close to seven per cent per annum. The country is liberalising trade by joining various trade deals, and is also a beneficiary of growing foreign direct investments as the world moves towards technology and manufacturing.

We are fascinated by three aspects of Vietnam’s economic growth. First, more than half of the 100 million population is under 35 years old, with many well-educated in the fields of maths and science, as can be seen in Vietnam’s consistent performance above the OECD average at PISA tests. In our 25 years in Vietnam, ANZ has rigorously trained a team of domestic talents who continue to work with the bank until this day. We are also impressed by the strong participation of Vietnamese women in the workforce, which promotes diversity across different sectors.

Second, Vietnam has moved from an agrarian country to a consumption market and manufacturing hub. We have seen numerous new projects and the economic buzz here is obvious. A lot of our clients think the same and they have been really optimistic. Some originally intended to stay in Vietnam for one or two years, but ended up being here for more than 14 years already.

Third, Vietnam has enjoyed a good relationship with Australia and New Zealand, the home markets of ANZ. From logistics, transportation to agriculture, Vietnam is boosting its business activities with the two Oceanic countries, which are also part of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Vietnam is a very compelling story with its economic growth, golden demographics, quality education, growing consumption market, and fast rates of digitalisation. All of this is propelling the economy forward.

West: A lot of our clients have called Vietnam an economic miracle, and this is not far from the truth. We have seen the transformation of the economy here, the government is taking steps to welcome foreign investment and the country will benefit from the trade agreements.

How does ANZ plan to seize opportunities in Vietnam’s booming economy? The bank recently sold its retail business in Vietnam, so what strategy does ANZ undertake to boost institutional banking services?

Faruqui: With our network across 15 Asian countries 34 countries in Europe, America, and Asia, ANZ offers a wide range of cross-border services for institutional clients, including trade financing, foreign exchange, and payments.

Our DNA has always been intermediating trade and capital flows in the region for large institutional customers. This is considered our forte, as we continue to grow our franchise and become a powerful partner of both multinational companies investing in Vietnam and major Vietnamese businesses looking to expand abroad.

Vietnam’s economic integration and buzzing trade activities provide great opportunities for the bank, as we pride ourselves on helping regional trade and capital flows. At the same time as foreign companies enter Vietnam, domestic firms are also at the tipping point to venture to other markets, and we are well-positioned to be a trusted partner for both.

Last year, we sold our retail banking business across Asia, including Vietnam, because we felt that retail banking does not fit into our new institution-only strategy. Our group leaders believed that our retail customers would be better served by someone else, while ANZ focuses on institutional banking, which is our strength.

West: Our strategy may be evolving, but we have absolute commitment to the Vietnamese market. There are exciting years ahead of Vietnam, and we want to closely support our institutional clients from both Vietnam and overseas. We take tremendous pride in our 25-year journey in Vietnam so far, as we have assisted customers to enter Vietnam, helped the country develop digitally and domestic businesses go global.

The most important mission for us is to respond well to the changing needs of customers. It is not about how many people we have, but how we fulfil what customers expect of us.

In recent years, the financial industry has witnessed a slew of new technologies, such as fintech, blockchain, Industry 4.0, and Big Data. How can ANZ keep abreast of these innovations?

Faruqui: Our overall digital goal is to provide a quick, seamless and automated banking experience for customers. We believe in partnering up with talents at both startups and other businesses. In general, this is a win-win relationship in which banks offer a vast network of clients while startups bring cutting-edge innovations to the table. Without keeping up with the latest technology, banks will not survive.

Moreover, as a bank, we collect a lot of customers’ data. This provides us with the opportunity to mine the data to help our clients and turn data into thinking points, such as current market trends and how clients can respond to these trends. However, we also have the great responsibility of respecting and protecting customers’ privacy.

To build a world-class infrastructure for our financial services, the ANZ headquarters has appointed the former managing director of Google Australia as its chief technology officer. The goal is having a multi-channel platform in which customers can initiate transactions via a single point of entry, turning this into ANZ’s competitive advantage.

West: ANZ was the first foreign bank in Vietnam to offer an online tax payment solution for corporate customers, and digital innovations continue to drive ANZ’s presence in Vietnam.

We would like to say that this is our first 25th anniversary in Vietnam, and there is a long way to go for us in this exciting country. We are proud of our business and our team here, and we look forward to facilitating trade and capital flows between Vietnam and the region.