Banks enter post-digitalisation race for customer loyalty

Banks enter post-digitalisation race for customer loyalty

As digital banking becomes the norm, Vietnamese lenders are entering a new race where customer experience, data intelligence and trust, not transaction speed, will determine who wins long-term loyalty.

The Vietnam Banks Association, in collaboration with TradePass, organised the World Financial Innovation Series 2026 on May 19-20.

At the event, experts broadly agreed that Vietnam’s banking sector has moved beyond the basic digitalisation phase. As convenience and processing speed have become baseline expectations, the next competitive edge for financial institutions will lie in customer experience, data capabilities, and risk management.

At the first discussion session, Doan Hong Nhung, head of Retail Banking at Vietcombank, identified three factors that now determine customer loyalty amid the rapid expansion of financial applications.

The first is security and trust, as without trust, all other experiences lose their meaning. The second is the ability to personalise customer experiences.

“In the era of rapidly advancing AI, banking applications must be simple and convenient while also capable of understanding customer needs and proactively recommending suitable solutions,” said Nhung. “The third factor is the ability to maintain long-term relationships, as banking apps evolve from transaction platforms into complex financial assistants that help customers manage their investments more effectively.”

However, according to Nhung, personalisation must go hand in hand with security and compliance.

“At Vietcombank, all regulatory compliance requirements must be strictly integrated from the product design stage. Controls are not added after development is completed; instead, data protection, risk management and customer experience must be built simultaneously from the outset,” she added.

Discussing the future of physical branches amid the rapid growth of digital banking, Dau Ha Lam, deputy CEO in charge of Technology & Digital Transformation VietABank, stressed that branches will not disappear but rather evolve in their role.

“Basic transactions such as money transfers, account opening, and payments will gradually shift to digital platforms, while branches will continue to play an important role in advisory services, customer care, and more sophisticated financial products,” said Lam. “In the future, each customer touchpoint will serve a different purpose, but the experience must remain consistent across all channels. Customers may begin transactions on an app, but still require direct consultation at branches when necessary.”

Looking ahead to the next two to three years, Bui Hai, head of retail banking at Vikki Digital Bank, highlighted two major trends – the shift from standalone competition towards ecosystem-based competition, and deeper personalisation driven by AI and data.

“Banks will no longer provide only financial products but will integrate with a wide range of services across customers’ daily lives. In the near future, banks may be able to build highly individualised experiences for each customer almost in real time,” he added.

If AI and data are the engines of personalisation, experts at the second discussion session focused on the next challenge – ensuring technology serves customer needs without crossing the boundaries of privacy.

Comparing personalisation to a high-performance racing vehicle, Nguyen Thi Thu Hang, director of Customer Experience at TPBank, said personalisation is the engine that enables speed, while privacy functions as the braking system.

“Without an engine, you cannot accelerate, but without brakes, you cannot stay on the track,” said Hang. “TPBank only personalises services when it has gained customer trust and consent, while also clearly distinguishing between being intrusive and delivering refined personalisation.”

“TPBank aims for refined personalisation delivered at the right moment, for the right need and in the right context. We also place particular emphasis on co-creation, allowing customers to design and build their own approval processes because co-creation represents the highest level of personalisation, where customers actively participate in shaping the experience best suited to them,” she added.

From the perspective of a large state-owned bank, Nguyen Thi Kim Phuong, branch director of BIDV FDI Branch I, identified fragmented customer data as one of the greatest obstacles in building personalised experiences.

“The core solution is to develop a central operating system capable of integrating all data sources. At the same time, banks must apply technology aggressively while still ensuring compliance and transaction security, alongside shifting leadership thinking towards a customer-centric approach,” she added.

On measuring effectiveness, Hoang Thi Thuy Ha, COO of GPBank, proposed three groups of indicators: customer satisfaction, customer engagement and interaction, and business performance.

“Banks need to measure customer experience across the entire customer journey rather than separating individual touchpoints. At the same time, measurement must be conducted quickly enough to allow timely adjustments to action plans,” added Ha.

VIR