The World Financial Innovation Series 2024 in Việt Nam. Most banks have been so far building digital transformation strategies and developing application services on the internet and mobile phones. Photo thoibaonganhang.vn

HÀ NỘI — The digital transformation process in the Vietnamese banking and finance industry will continue to accelerate in the future, Vice Chairman and General Secretary of the Vietnam Banks Association Nguyễn Quốc Hùng said.

At the World Financial Innovation Series 2024 in Việt Nam (WFIS 2024) held in Hà Nội on Monday, Hùng said the trend of banks cooperating with Regtech, Suptech and Proptech is also starting to be deployed in different forms in Việt Nam.

To promote digital transformation, the Vietnamese Government has issued the National Digital Transformation Programme until 2025 with vision to 2030 and the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has issued the Plan for Digital Transformation of the Banking Industry to 2025 with an orientation to 2030.

Most banks have been so far building digital transformation strategies and developing application services on the internet and mobile phones. By November 2023, Việt Nam had more than 85 payment service providers that deploy payments via the Internet, and 52 organisations that deploy payments via mobile phones; and 51 payment intermediary organisations that were licensed by the SBV to provide payment services.

Statistics show compared to 2022, non-cash payment transactions currently increase by 49.95 per cent in quantity while transactions via the Internet and mobile phone channels surge by 56.60 per cent and 61.14 per cent in quantity and 5.80 per cent and 11.65 per cent in value, respectively.

Transactions via QR codes and points of sale (POS) channels has also risen by 171.68 per cent and 18.77 per cent in quantity and 74.16 per cent and 20.64 per cent in value, respectively.

Banks have also invested heavily in new technology and core banking, such as blockchain technology, artificial intelligence (AI), biometric technology and voice, face, fingerprint and iris recognition, to serve digital transformation and application in operations.

According to Hùng, in the Fintech sector, the SBV has licensed 48 non-bank organisations to provide payment intermediary services, including more than 40 e-wallet service providers.

Statistics from the SBV show the number of Fintech companies in the country increased by four times, from 39 companies at the end of 2015 to more than 154 companies at the end of 2021. Among the Fintech companies in Việt Nam, about 70 per cent are startups.

Previously, investment platform Robocash Group forecast Việt Nam's Fintech market had the second fastest growth rate in the Asian region, after Singapore, and would reach US$18 billion by 2024 with a high level of competition.

At the WFIS 2024, Praveen Venu, Sales Director of business networking platforms provider Tradepass Company, said based on their surveys, the demand for information security and network security is increasing.

Tradepass is planning an investment project in Việt Nam related to enhancing cybersecurity. — VNS