Hanoi (VNA) – The trend of cashless payment anddigitalisation in personal banking services is generating major opportunitiesand challenges to banks, especially amid Industry 4.0, according to a 2017report on banking services compiled by IDG Vietnam Co. Ltd.

The information was highlighted at the RetailBanking Forum in Hanoi on December 6. The forum on the future of retail bankingand payment services in the Industry 4.0 era was part of a series of workshopsand events on smart city building.

The report said e-banking is increasinglypopular in Vietnam with the rate of e-banking users reaching 81 percent atpresent, compared to only 21 percent in 2015. Financial technology (fintech)solutions are also gaining greater preference due to their convenience andmodern security solutions.

The trend of cashless payment and digitalisationin personal banking services is also opening up a market for IT firms inVietnam to provide software products serving the finance-banking sector.

Ha Huy Tuan, Vice Chairman of the NationalFinancial Supervisory Commission, said Industry 4.0 with the appearance of anarray of breakthrough technologies like Internet of Things, robotictechnologies, artificial intelligence, automation, cloud computing, and bigdata is strongly changing many sectors and fields.

In the service industry, many new businessmodels have appeared such as Uber and Grab (transport), Traveloka and Airbnb(tourism, hotel room booking), Alibaba and Amazon (e-commerce), Atombank andFidor bank (digital banks without branches), he noted.

These technologies will help change the economyin general and the finance-banking sector in particular, Tuan said, adding thatcustomers tend to use more and more new digital technologies and have higherrequirements for banking services.

Financial experts said there remain manyshortcomings in e-banking solutions in Vietnam such as high transaction fees,frequent interface errors, and limited customer services.

At the forum, participants discussed and sharedinformation about new models in financial activities, new banking solutions,and digital infrastructure for the financial system. They also looked intocustomer data management, financial management in the use of big data, the useof artificial intelligence to calculate banking products and customer segments,personal information security, and the development of retail bankingservices.-VNA