Leaders of banks from the Asia Pacific and Middle East pose for a photo as they receive awards in Ha Noi yesterday. — VNS Photo Truong Vi

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — A Vietnamese chief executive officer (CEO) and a dozen domestic banks were honoured at the Asian Banker Leadership Achievement Awards Dinner in Ha Noi yesterday, among peers from the Asia Pacific and Middle East.

Singapore-headquartered The Asian Banker, the region's provider of strategic business intelligence to the financial services community, hosted the event with the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV).

Viet Nam's awards for CEO leadership achievement and the best-managed bank went to Military Bank CEO Le Cong, who created appropriate strategies and solutions to curb credit growth and manage default risks.

"With his focus on the bank's prudent credit growth and efficiency, the average year-on-year credit growth stood at 40 per cent, 2.5 times higher than the industry's average growth in the past three years, while keeping the non-performing loan ratio below 2 per cent," the organisers said in a news release.

SeABank, which leveraged its data analytics capability to offer a more customer-centric auto-loan product, won best auto-loan product in Viet Nam. The Sai Gon-Ha Noi Bank won awards for best deposit product and best brand initiative in the country after it was able to grow its retail deposit size by 32.4 per cent last year.

The best credit card product in Viet Nam was awarded to Vietcombank, which led its peers with 21 per cent share of the domestic credit card market. Tien Phong Bank, whose online transactions accounted for 35 per cent of its total retail transactions, was named the country's best internet banking initiative.

Agribank won the award for best microfinance product in Viet Nam, with its microfinance business contributing to half of total retail income and a net interest margin of 2.5 per cent last year. The best mortgage product in the country was awarded to the Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam, whose mortgage loans skyrocketed by 88 per cent, securing 20 per cent of the industry's market share in 2015.

Viet Nam International Bank, which effectively utilised various social media platforms to increase the number of engaged users by 26 per cent year-on-year, won best social media intitiative in Viet Nam. The best cloud-based project in the country was Asia Commercial Bank, which provided real time communications and enterprise social interaction on a public cloud platform.

The award for best mobile banking project in Viet Nam went to Techcombank and SAP, which achieved a notable increase in mobile banking market shares and reduced customer churn by half. The best treasury management project in the country also went to Techcombank and Misys, as the bank implemented a treasury system that enabled real-time risk management dashboard and alerts.

"I'm very pleased to see that more Vietnamese banks have been awarded…These awards show the acknowledgement and high appreciation of the regional and international community for the achievements that Viet Nam has gained in its reform agenda," said SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong, adressing the ceremony.

Yesterday's event kickstarted the three-day Asian Banker Summit 2016, where participants will discuss challenges for bank managers, infrastructure for financial markets, international banking transactions, and supply chains and technology in the banking sector. — VNS