Vietnam’s Saigon Hanoi Bank (SHB) is in the cusp of digital transformation.
A series of recent developments point to this. In April 2022, it won the State Bank of Vietnam’s approval to increase its charter capital from 19.3 trillion Vietnamese dongs (about $839 million) to 26.7 trillion dongs. This in effect, will boost the lender’s scale. received a boost to its franchise
SHB is set to implement a digital banking platform made by Temenos to power its ambitions “to become a leading digital bank in Vietnam in the next five years.
New digital drive
The bank, which serves more than 5 million individual and corporate customers, said it would take advantage of composable services to assemble its new digital offering. In addition to harbouring substantial digital banking ambitions, SHB also wants to rank first in efficiency and technology among Vietnam’s commercial banks by 2025.
SHB digital banking division director and deputy general director of the bank, Do Quang Vinh, said the bank is confident that choosing Temenos will enable us to complete the transformation project in the fastest and most effective way. To meet the needs of Vietnamese consumers, SHB has identified digital transformation as one of its strategic pillars, with a focus on building a digital corporate culture and investing in IT systems.
The digital banking capabilities of Temenos open platform will enable SHB to deliver seamless state-of-the-art customer experiences with highly personalised and AI-supported user journeys. Additionally, SHB will leverage Temenos’ open architecture – with its combination of APIs, microservices and ‘micro apps’ – to create [an] omnichannel experience across all channels, including internet, mobile, branches and ATMs.
Capital infusion
All this needs to be seen in the backdrop of recent efforts by the government to build a strong economy. Commercial banks were told to launch a 40 trillion VND support package with a 2 percent yearly rate cut for businesses in a meeting with the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) last week, according to a report by VietNamNet.
By May 20, Vietnam economy’s credit growth was at 7.66 per cent, double the figure from the same period last year. More importantly, the growth has been recorded in all major economic sectors including those that have been struggling since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as tourism, transport and services.
It has been vital during a time when businesses desperately require capital to resume operations after a long hiatus and recent turbulence in the stock market. The support package, approved under the 15th National Assembly’s Decree No 43/2022, is the first to use State funds to support post-pandemic economic recovery through commercial banks.
It was designed to include and grant capital access as well as low-interest loans to small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs), cooperatives and economic households. The package, said to be working in tandem with current stimuli, aims to help businesses and households resume business operations, restore supply and demand and jumpstart the economy, according to the central bank.
