HCM City (VNS/VNA)- The COVID-19 pandemic has sped upthe banking sector’s awareness of digitisation by three tofive years and forced lenders to accelerate the process to survive and grow.

This is in line with globaltrends and provides a strong push for digitisation, delegates told the 2020 VietnamRetail Banking Forum titled ‘The role of retail bankingservices in promoting economic digitalisation in the post-COVID-19period’ organised last week by the Vietnam Banking Association andIDG. 

Nguyen Toan Thang, SecretaryGeneral of the Vietnam Banks Association, said the pandemic has brought about achange in banking habits, with online banking transactions increasing sharply,especially during the social distancing period.

“Online banking has developedstrongly with many new convenient services and products. Banks have investedplenty in modern technologies like contactless payment, super apps, virtualassistant.”

He quoted a report assaying that in the first six months of this year the number of customers usingmobile banking services increased by 1.4-2.6 times year-on-year.

Mobile banking transactionaccounted for 40 percent of the total transactions during this period, and even80 percent in some banks, he said.

He also shared a report fromthe National Payment Corporation of Vietnam that said the amount of moneywithdrawn from ATMs fell from 90 percent of total transactions in 2015 to26.5 percent this year. The 24/7 online money transfer increased from 1.1 percentto 66.6 percent.

Vu Viet Ngoan, Vice Chairman ofthe National Financial and Monetary Policy Advisory Council, said COVID-19 hascompletely changed people’s habits, forcing banks to change to meet thesedemands.

The other factor speeding updigitisation of the banking sector is the advancement of cutting-edgetechnologies like cloud, block chain and digital solutions, he said.

Digitisation of banking isinevitable and would only increase since Vietnam is one of the firstcountries to deploy 5G technology.

Furthermore, the start-upeco-system, including fintech, has rapidly developed, which would fosterdigitisation, he said.

“Banking is an important partof the economy. The digitasation of the economy cannot happen without thedigitisation of the banking sector.”

Participants also spoke aboutthe difficulties they faced in digitising and said they should therefore joinhands to seek solutions.

On the sidelines of theseminar an exhibition showcasing advanced technologies and products thathave been used to digitise was organised.

The annual Vietnam OutstandingBanking Awards were also given away. Instituted in 2012 they seek to honour thebest banks and fintech companies and best banking services.

This year 16 banks and fourfintech companies won them, with the Bank of Investment and Development Vietnam(BIDV), Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade(Vietinbank) and Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank)being named the most outstanding retail banks.

Awardswere also given for best digitisation, outstanding banking services andproducts and strong support to high-tech agriculture and small and medium-sized enterprises andcommunity./.