E-payments are increasing strongly in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, but along with that, the trend of cyber attacks is also increasing, forcing banks to race more strongly for digital transformation.

Statistics show that 94% of Vietnamese commercial banks have invested in digital transformation, 40% of banks have put digital transformation into a strategic vision in the next 5-10 years. The report "Retail Banking 2020" of the auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) shows that 40% of customers leave the bank after a bad experience; and vice versa, improving customer experience will help banks gain a great competitive advantage on the digital transformation "race". Therefore, a series of banks have focused on promoting digital utilities to "retain" customers and attract new customers.

Thanks to faster digital transformation, "contactless" banking activities have also become more popular, and customers' use of online services has gradually become a habit. Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, a series of Mobile Banking applications of banks have integrated online shopping services (which were not available before) to meet the needs of customers in a timely and best manner to ensure safety, increase convenience for customers.

Identifying technology as the foundation for promoting digital transformation, banks has emphasized the importance of Internet of Things (IoT) technology, big data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), Cloud computing,. application programming interface (API). In addition, safety and security issues, data management regulations and blockchain are also technologies that need to be invested in the strategy of becoming a digital bank.

According to statistics, Vietnam has a growth rate of Mobile Banking of 200%, and currently has about 30 million people using the bank payment system every day. At the same time, Vietnam currently has 70 credit institutions, not to mention payment intermediaries such as e-wallets, which have deployed payment services via the internet, providing mobile payment services. By 2025, Vietnam will have a generation of "digital customers" dominating the market, this group of customers has higher expectations about digital financial products and services.

In the second quarter of 2021, despite the impact of Covid-19, the financial reports of many banks showed that the business situation was still very positive. In particular, thanks to fast digital transformation, banks have achieved good business results.

Kylie Nguyen