The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has been placed among the top organisations for the second consecutive year in the rankings of cyber information security for Vietnamese state agencies by the Authority of Information Security under the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC). According to a news report, the rankings, announced at the Security Summit 2021 on 27 October, covers 89 agencies, including 26 ministries, ministry-level agencies, and government agencies, and 63 provincial-level units. Dinh Van Ket, the Deputy Head of the Information and International Cooperation Division, under the Authority of Information Security, noted that in the 2020 rankings, nine agencies were rated Grade A, which indicates a good level of information security, including two ministry-level agencies and seven provincial-level agencies. Along with the SBV, the Ministry of Transport was also listed as Grade A.
Earlier in 2019, the SBV was the only ministry-level agency to receive Grade A in the rankings. According to the Authority of Information Security, compared to 2019, 38% of the agencies saw improvements in rankings, and 58% maintained their positions. For provincial-level agencies, 41% jumped to higher positions, while the rankings of 56% were unchanged. Only seven agencies, or 12%, were given Grade A. A representative from the authority said that the rankings for 2021 are being made and will be announced on the Vietnam Information Security Day in 2021.
SBV’s rankings are a promising sign as the country is witnessing an increase in demand for online and mobile banking services from consumers, which is driving the digital transformation of banks. Online transactions in Vietnam for the first four months of this year jumped 66% compared with the same period last year, which has been accelerated enormously by the pandemic. The large majority (73%) of Vietnamese consumers are multi-channel banking users. This means they use a combination of digital banks and physical branches.
There’s also been a huge increase in the use of e-wallets, payments via smartphones and QR codes, and high demand for ‘instant credit’ solutions such as buy-now-pay-later, particularly among those segments of the population that remain unbanked or underbanked. Vietnam’s consumers are demanding digital financial solutions, and the industry is rising to the challenge by using cutting-edge digital banking solutions, gaining attention around the world.
Furthermore, the adoption of digital banking in Asia-Pacific (APAC) emerging markets, especially Vietnam, has caught up with developed markets. The behaviour change has brought the financial services industry new prospects. The window for seizing opportunities will narrow quickly as consumers give serious consideration to innovative propositions from digital banks. The increase in active digital bank users is arguably higher in Vietnam compared with APAC’s emerging markets and some APAC-developed markets. Between 2017 and 2021, 88% of APAC consumers in emerging markets actively use digital banks, a 33 percentage points increase. In Vietnam, the numbers rose by 41 percentage points to 82% in 2021. At the same time, fintech and e-wallet penetration reached 56% in 2021 for Vietnam, a hike of 40 percentage points from 2017. This penetration level is higher than the average of APAC emerging markets (at 54%) and developed markets (43%).
