Attendees at the "Digital banking and the specific ecosystem” conference. — Photo Bizlive

Digital banking is inevitable for Vietnamese banks and building trust is critical in the development of the new business model, experts said at a conference on Friday.

At a conference titled ‘Digital banking and the specific ecosystem’ held by news portal Bizlive, Nguyen Chien Thang, VPBank Director of Digital Sales & Partners, said that digital banking is an inevitable development path for banks.

According to Thang, there are many challenges facing banks in the development of digital services, of which the biggest is building trust among customers.

Tran Quoc Anh, head of HDBank’s Personal Customers Division, said the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) had so far issued regulations to build trust in non-cash payments. Of which, Circular 19 stipulates that when customers experience problems, banks at first must compensate the customers and later come up with final settlements.

“We try to handle problems as quickly as possible,” Anh said.

To gain the trust of customers, Le Thi Diem Phuong, director of VPBank’s Corporate Cards and Partners Development for Small and Medium Enterprises Division, said it was important to improve the experience for customers.

“If customers have good experiences, they will tell others,” she said.

Banks also need to build an eco-system and digital network to cover all basic services.

According to Thang, the development of digital banking in Viet Nam will offer many advantages.

First, compared to other countries, Viet Nam's legal framework is relatively good as competent agencies, including the SBV, are willing to revise regulations to adapt to changes in the market.

Secondly, technology in the banking sector is developing fast, helping the development of digital banking.

At the conference, banking expert Can Van Luc said that digital banking helped banks increase revenue, increase labour productivity and save costs.

“The new business model therefore will improve competitiveness significantly for banks and create breakthroughs for the banks,” Luc said.

However, he noted, digital banks also must compete fiercely against non-finance institutions, such as fintech firms. Viet Nam currently has 67 fintech companies. — VNS