Dato' Khairussaleh Ramli, Maybank president and group chief executive officer, and Vũ Văn Tiền, vice chairman of ABBANK, sign an MoU to strengthen their strategic cooperation witnessed by their senior leadership. — Photo courtesy of ABBANK

An Bình Commercial Joint Stock Bank and its shareholder Malayan Banking Berhad (Maybank) have signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen strategic cooperation for mutual benefit with a focus on supporting ABBANK's transformation initiatives and capacity building.

The signing took place in Hà Nội during a recent visit by Maybank’s senior leadership.

The MoU outlines the principles for the two lenders to jointly implement projects to improve ABBANK's operational efficiency, particularly during its transformation phase, including but not limited to SME and retail banking and digitalisation.

The MoU marks a new milestone in the two lenders’ cooperation and flags their commitment to the partnership, particularly as ABBANK undergoes a comprehensive transformation.

Vũ Văn Tiền, vice chairman of ABBANK, said: “The board of directors places the highest priority on ABBANK's transformation programme. Investing in the development of technology applications is important and necessary, but the decisive factor remains the people. From senior leadership to every employee, there needs to be a mindset of innovation and mastery of technology. Therefore, human development is our top priority.

“We hope that Maybank … [will] send experts to support ABBANK in enhancing the capabilities of our team, meeting the demands of the transformation, and achieving success."

Dato' Khairussaleh Ramli, president and group chief executive officer of the Malaysian bank, said: “Maybank is keen to support ABBANK in the relevant areas of expertise and exposure to enable ABBANK to realise its transformation objectives and goals.

“Retail, SME and digitalisation are indeed areas where Maybank has seen good progress.”

Maybank first bought stakes in ABBANK in 2008 and now owns 16.4 per cent. — VNS