Vietnamese banks should go digital, meet hears

The conference themed “Digital Bank – the Future of Banking?” was held in Hanoi last week. At the conference, experts discussed challenges to the security of digital banking and the future of banking in general.
Digital banking poses opportunities and challenges to the Vietnamese banking system, Tu said. It is different from traditional banking, forcing banks to learn and develop continuously, he said.
William Anthony Jennings, vice chairman of the management board of the Institute of Manpower, Banking and Finance, said the digital-technology era for banks had arrived.
Up to 50 per cent of customers would want to switch to digital banking soon, he said. He advised banks to consider the trend and plan accordingly.
At the workshop, Douglas Jackson, regional director in the Southeast Asia for Boston Consulting Group (BCG), said Vietnamese customers were still dependent on cash transactions. Thus it is necessary for customers to change their thinking first before banks’ thinking changes.
Vietnam has a young population, which creates young human resources using digital technology, according to Jackson.
Dang Tuyet Dung, deputy general director of Maritime Bank, said the bank had implemented digital banking. “Currently, the services we offer for our customers include not only Internet banking but also combo packages.”
Recently, as customers at big banks lost money to online fraud, many blamed the weak security of banks.
“Investment to improve information-technology infrastructure and enhance security is crucial,” said Phan Thai Dung, deputy director of the Informatics Technology Department under the SBV. “Besides the general principles of security applying to the entire commercial banking system under the direction of the State Bank, banks also need to develop their own security measures.” 
At the conference, the BCG revealed the findings of a study of 200 financial-institution clients to find their difficulties in digital banking.
The results showed that though banks have many routes, they lack a common vision for digital banking. Interfaces and systems are not integrated, infrastructures are outdated and ability to access multi-channel data is poor.
However, according to Jackson, if banks can overcome these obstacles, the benefits of digital banking are huge, such as increasing revenue and market share, improved performance and a competitive advantage versus competitors that cannot afford digital features.