Customers use services at the Timo Hangout, No 17 Ngo Quyen Street in Hanoi. (File Photo) Hanoi (VNA) - Customers must be at the centre of banks’ attention as theymake a move towards digital transformation in an effort to adapt to a changinglandscape of financial innovation and disruptive technologies.
Thiswas said by head of Retail Banking at VP Bank, Sandeep Deobhakta, at aconference held in Hanoi on January 12, titled, ‘The Future of Finance in Vietnam2017.’
Deobhakta,who has been holding this position since May 2015, said customers in Vietnamare very open to new technologies and the nascent retail banking industry in Vietnamcan also adopt these technologies faster than other markets if they putcustomers first.
Inthe future, traditional banks might lose business to companies that employdisruptive innovations if they failed to deliver better, simpler and fastersolutions to customers, Deobhakta cautioned.
VPBank has been working with Timo, Vietnam’s first mobile-only bank, givingcustomers better solutions to manage their money, bills and the ability to topup their mobile cards through the Timo app. At Timo Hangouts, one can forgetabout a typical bank branch and instead enjoy a coffee as one opens an accountand uses bank services.
Timohas about 4,000 customers in the HCM City and opened a Timo Hangout in Hanoilast October, looking to attract more than 100,000 users by next year.
Vietnamhas a huge untapped market for financial innovation, with only 20 percent ofthe population having bank accounts and 3 percent owning credit cards, Foo BoonPing, managing editor of The Asian Banker, said at the conference.
“Thestable GDP growth of around 6 to 7 percent, low wages, a large population witha high savings and strong innovative approach are crucial factors that willaccelerate the financial and industrial development in the Vietnamese market,”he said.
“Digitaltransformation is driven by real business needs to transform to become morecost efficient and to serve your customers as their behavior and preferenceschange,” he added.
Accordingto fintechnews.sg, there are only about 36 fin-tech companies in Vietnam, withmost focusing on providing consumers and merchants with online and digitalpayment solutions.-VNA
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