OCB CEO Nguyen Dinh Tung introduces the bank’s digital products to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, and other officials (Photo credit: OCB)

Vietnam's banking digitalization has undoubtedly yielded tangible, encouraging results in recent years. At the sector’s annual Digital Transformation Day held last Wednesday in Hanoi, domestic lenders introduced their advanced technological products.

The Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank, OCB, for example, introduced its Liobank - a new generation digital bank with outstanding features for young technology connoisseurs.

Nguyen Dinh Tung, CEO and a member of OCB’s Board of Directors, affirmed that LioBank is the first product in the market that offers completely digital lending.

“Another feature of LioBank is that we help people with average incomes or higher borrow money from banks and obtain credit cards. LioBank's credit approval is fully digitalized. Customers don’t need to go into a physical bank branch,” Tung added.

According to Tung, Liobank has already attracted 300,000 users, gotten 600,000 downloads, and is rated 4.6 out of 5 stars on Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store.

(Photo credit: OCB)

At the event, OCB also introduced the latest version of its digital banking system called OMNI 4.0, which features an enhanced security system.

According to the OCB’s CEO, the latest version of OMNI, OMNI 4.0, has several new features.

“First, this version  fully complies with State Bank regulations and is integrated with the national data platform. OMNI 4.0 uses FIDO security technology to ensure absolute safety for users. A second outstanding feature is the use of the latest AI technology to personalize the user’s experience,” said Tung.

He noted third the app is embedded in a digital ecosystem through which customers can access low-priced services, and medium, small, and very small businesses in Vietnam can introduce their products directly to consumers without going through an intermediary channel.

ETC/EPAY Director General Nguyen Mai Phuong demonstrates the biometric identification and authentication solution to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the Digital Transformation Day 2024. (Photo: etc.vn)

Promoting e-identification in digital transactions is another highlight of the banking sector’s digital transformation.

Pursuant to the State Bank of Vietnam’s decision, biometric authentication will be required for online money transfers and e-wallet top-ups exceeding 10 million VND starting on July 1. 

Nguyen Minh Quang, Solution Director of the ETC E-Pay Service Joint Stock Company, said that using biometric authentication in the banking sector is a world trend and has been widely applied in other countries to ensure transaction security.

The ETC E-Pay has  developed centralized authentication solutions that connect directly to the national population database and provide end-to-end authentication solutions for users, helping to save costs for banks.

“What the banks need is to make sure their current platforms are qualified to connect to the national database through tech firms like ETC Epay, whose security system has been tested by the Ministry of Public Security,” according to Quang.

Quang said this regulation will motivate banks to apply AI solutions to biometric identification to simplify customer identification.

He insisted that all banks have agreed that the application of identity and biometric authentication technologies helps their customers have a convenient, quick, seamless experience in banking transactions, ensuring high safety and reliability, while the banks have good revenue.

A FPT IS expert: Facial biometric authentication will be a shield to protect users in digital transactions. (Photo: vneconomy.vn)

Applying artificial intelligence (AI), automating professional processes, and personalizing the customer experience based on new technologies is a top concern of digital banks.

In response to the trend, tech firms and digital solution providers have developed modern technology applications to support the banking industry in digital transformation.

Dao Hong Giang, Deputy President and Director in charge of the Banking and Finance Sector of the FPT Information System, told VOV that FPT has anticipated the industry’s huge demand for GPU AI processing chips for fraud authentication, eKYC (electronic Know Your Customer), and big data.

“To deal with the demand, FPT has coordinated with US chipmaker NVIDIA to build an AI factory for the Vietnamese market and hopes to provide that service by the end of this year," according to Giang.

FPT is cooperating with the NVIDIA to build a 200 million USD AI factory using NVIDIA’s graphics chips and software. (Photo: VGP/HM)

Data security in the banking sector has become a hot topic since the pandemic. The number of customers registering for online banking services and the number of online transactions has exploded.

Two years ago there were a few million transactions a day. By the end of the first quarter this year, the number of transactions had reached tens of millions a day. Securing data is a challenge for the industry and tech firms when there is so much online fraud, said Giang.

“FPT has supported the banking sector by participating in associations related to information security. We’ve also provided services and built teams of international and domestic experts to provide information security services and consultancy to banks and customers,” said Giang.

In addition to the strong growth in cashless payment transactions, preventing fraud in online transactions is pressuring the banking industry, the lifeblood of the national economy, and has a daily impact on businesses, people,  and sectors.