“The AI Era: Vietnam’s Banking Sector Faces a ‘Golden’ Opportunity to Surge in Growth”
On 6 November 2025 in Hanoi, the Vietnam Banks Association (VNBA), together with IEC Group and Backbase, hosted a forum entitled “Vietnam’s Digital Banking in the AI Era: Opportunity for Break-through Growth”. The event gathered leaders from commercial banks, regulatory authorities and technology firms, to chart how artificial intelligence (AI) can become a core capability rather than a mere experiment in banking.
From a support tool to a “virtual colleague”
Dr. Nguyễn Quốc Hùng, Vice-Chairman and Secretary General of the VNBA
According to Dr. Nguyễn Quốc Hùng, Vice-Chairman and Secretary General of the VNBA, the banking sector’s digital transformation has passed through key stages: first digitising branch channels, then modernising core systems, followed by open connectivity with ecosystems. Now, banks are entering the next phase: AI-operated banking. He identified four core values that AI brings to Vietnamese banks:
Quality growth: By creating ultra-personalised customer journeys, driving product cross-selling, reducing attrition and broadening product usage.
Lean operations: Through intelligent end-to-end automation, reducing operating costs, raising productivity and accelerating time-to-market.
Proactive risk management: Real-time fraud detection, flexible risk modelling and stronger cyber-defences.
Trust and compliance: Responsible, transparent AI use that safeguards data privacy and meets evolving regulatory requirements. In his remarks, Dr. Hùng emphasised that AI isn’t just about doing things faster or cheaper — it’s about understanding customers more deeply, predicting better and interacting in personalised real time at scale.
Citing a report from Deloitte, he noted that leading banks worldwide may improve business performance by 27%–35% through AI adoption, with revenue per employee projected to rise by up to $3.5 million by 2026. He also pointed out that in Vietnam, many banks are already deploying AI-powered chatbots, eKYC solutions, predictive analytics and fraud detection tools — helping to raise service quality.
However, he was frank about the challenges ahead: data exploitation and deployment, balancing humans and automation, and the need for stronger organisational capability and skills. He also stressed the importance of collaboration between regulators, banks, fintechs and technology partners for safe, compliant and sustainable innovation.
Three AI tiers and Vietnam’s “golden” opportunity
Mr. Phạm Anh Tuấn, Director of the Payments Department at the State Bank of Vietnam
Mr. Phạm Anh Tuấn, Director of the Payments Department at the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), identified three layers of AI development:
- Predictive AI: Analysing historical data for credit scoring, behavioural forecasting and fraud detection.
- Generative AI (GenAI): Large language models (LLMs) used to summarise, generate reports or contracts.
- Agentic AI: AI that acts — planning, filling forms or serving as smart operations assistants.
He cited an EY-Parthenon 2025 survey where 77% of global banks had already deployed or were testing GenAI.
He emphasised that GenAI has turned from experiment to core capability, and AI will not replace human staff, but become a “virtual colleague” that enables faster, more creative work.
He remarked that thanks to solid legal foundations in Vietnam — such as Decree 13/2023/ND-CP on personal data protection and Decree 52/2024/ND-CP on cashless payment — the Vietnamese banking sector has a “golden opportunity” for a growth leap.
He proposed three strategic pillars:
- An industry-wide AI risk governance framework
- Establishment of AI ethics councils at banks or SBV
- Comprehensive AI awareness and training programmes.
He concluded: while AI cannot replace human emotion, experience and ethics, used and governed properly it amplifies human intelligence, enhances performance, and reinforces social trust.
Real-world AI solutions for Vietnamese banks
At the forum, Backbase showcased its practical AI platform “BackperSuit”, notably the Customer Lifetime Orchestrator (CLO) solution which coordinates the entire customer lifecycle by combining machine learning (ML) for product-match with agentic AI for personalised marketing planning.
Other features include virtual assistants:
- Financial Coach (customer advisor)
- Employee Coach (staff support)
Significantly, the models are deployed on-premises (no internet connection) to ensure full data security and bank compliance.
The event affirmed that AI is now a strategic driver in finance. With shared effort and readiness, Vietnam’s banking sector stands at a pivotal moment to convert AI potential into a smart, secure and humane financial ecosystem.
VNBA News
