When the banker leaves the teller counter
Back in the early 2010s, transferring money typically required people to arrange their schedules to go to the bank, sit in crowded waiting areas, take a number, manually fill out forms, and wait for confirmation stamps. Even small transactions consumed considerable time and energy. At that time, it was hard to imagine that a few years later, most personal financial transactions could be completed in a few tens of seconds on a mobile phone screen.
Today, banks have "moved away" from physical branches and now fit comfortably in your pocket. From transferring tens of thousands to hundreds of millions of dong, from paying utility bills and buying train, bus, and plane tickets to depositing savings or opening accounts, everything is done through the NHS app. Banks are no longer confined to physical spaces but accompany users throughout their daily financial journey. For many young people, the concept of "going to the bank" has almost disappeared from their daily lives.
This shift stems not only from technological advancements but also from a shift in industry-wide thinking. The NHS is no longer an "addition," but a strategic pillar. Each year, NHS applications are revamped, pushing the digital capabilities race forward. Most commercial banks consider digitalization a vital strategy, with mobile banking becoming the new "front door." In this silent race, processes are becoming increasingly streamlined, while customer experience is gradually becoming the most important competitive measure.
The landscape of the Vietnamese National Health Service (NHS) is therefore becoming vibrant. Some banks are experimenting with digital business models alongside traditional banking. Some banks are building automated branches that don't require in-person staff. Others are incorporating artificial intelligence, biometric recognition, and electronic identification into every step of the transaction.
In this digital race, the transformation of Vietnamese banks is quite evident. TPBank quickly differentiated itself with LiveBank, which almost eliminates the need for physical branches. VPBank has experimented with NHS models geared towards retail banking. VIB has accelerated the application of data and AI in product personalization.OCB has built an OMNI ecosystem. Nam A Bank has developed digital transaction spaces and automated branches…
And the transformation is quite noticeable…
Recently, many National Financial Institutions (NHS) have emerged after mandatory transfers, such as DongABank, which became Vikki Bank after being acquired by HDBank . It is positioned as a NHS serving SMEs (providing financial products, services, or technology solutions specifically for small and medium-sized enterprises) and individuals entirely on a digital platform. Construction Bank (NHXD) changed its name to VCBNeo after joining forces with Vietcombank, aiming for an independent NHS model capable of competing with regional fintech and neo-banks, while also serving as a "laboratory" for Vietcombank to test new financial models on its existing infrastructure and ecosystem.
Not only large banks, but also smaller organizations are joining the trend with digital transaction spaces and next-generation banking models focused on SMEs and individual customers through digital channels. Alongside this are collaborations between banks, fintech companies, and big tech companies expanding the ecosystem and integrating financial services into familiar user platforms.
This game not only demands massive, arguably enormous, technological investment, demonstrating the banking industry's high spirit of innovation. In return, banks gain an unprecedentedly large market. Tens of millions of adults own payment accounts, billions of digital transactions are conducted annually, and a generation of customers considers digital experience the default standard. The meticulously developed and seamless NHS applications have now become a source of pride and a new "identity" for each bank.
From 24/7 money transfers, bill payments, online savings, and card applications to more complex services like consumer loans, small investments, and insurance, all are conveniently packaged within a single application. Cashless payments are therefore spreading at a breakneck pace. QR codes are everywhere, from supermarkets to local markets, from cafes to parking lots. The explosive growth of digital transactions reflects a society naturally shifting towards new financial habits thanks to investments from the banking sector.
NHS Vietnam has made significant, even impressive, progress in terms of user experience, coverage, and acceptance. However, in the broader regional and global context, much of this achievement remains primarily superficial – focusing on digitalization, convenience in transactions and payments – rather than addressing the core values of a comprehensive NHS model.
NHS apps have become "financial supermarkets" with a wide variety of products, offers, investments, insurance, etc., but the experience lacks seamlessness and focuses on digitizing transactions rather than truly becoming the financial brain of customers. Meanwhile, AI, big data, and automation are rapidly advancing. A gap is gradually emerging: technology is developing faster than both banks and end users can absorb it.
Meanwhile, in many countries, the NHS has long since moved beyond its role as a payment service. Revolut, a digital bank founded in the UK in 2015, has no physical branches but offers a comprehensive financial ecosystem, from multi-currency accounts and international money transfers to personal and business financial management, investments, digital assets, and AI-powered smart tools. Now with over 65 million customers in more than 160 countries and territories, Revolut is used as a true "personal finance hub."
Or take Monzo (UK), for example. It started with a simple app that allowed users to track expenses in real time, transparently and easily. With direct feedback from the user community to the product team, Monzo built its banking system around user experience as its core, data as its foundation, and trust as its capital. From there, Monzo gradually expanded into lending, savings, "buy now, pay later" services, and services for small businesses. After nearly a decade, this banking system not only has tens of millions of customers but has also built a sustainable business model. In this case, the banking system is a complete business model, not a digitized version of a traditional bank.
KakaoBank (South Korea) also demonstrated that NHS is not just about convenient payments or money transfers, but an effective credit allocation tool. Built on the KakaoTalk ecosystem, this bank leverages behavioral data to score creditworthiness, personalize products, and provide funding entirely online to individuals and small businesses. In 2021, KakaoBank's IPO on the Seoul stock exchange raised approximately $2.2 billion, proving the market's confidence in the NHS model beyond payments.
Hopefully, in the not-too-distant future, when we once again tap our phone screens to make a familiar transaction, behind that tap will be a true NHS, silently but intelligently, fully accompanying us through life.
A complete legal framework is needed.
Why hasn't Vietnam progressed this far? Experts believe Vietnam faces unique challenges such as a cautious legal framework, high system security requirements, a financial market heavily reliant on traditional banks, and uneven data readiness. Banks must simultaneously digitize, manage their legacy technologies, and meet increasingly stringent compliance requirements. In this context, prioritizing payments, a sector with readily apparent efficiency and low risk, is a logical choice.
But stopping there, the NHS will struggle to make a leap forward. Early payments become a “common good,” where competitive advantages are quickly eroded. To go further, services need to be expanded, and the key to expansion is not just technology, but data. For example, in lending, banks must make decisions before risks occur. Data helps banks see future repayment capacity, instead of relying solely on collateral and past records. Through transaction data, cash flow, spending behavior, and repayment history, banks can more accurately score creditworthiness, personalize credit limits and interest rates for each customer, and monitor loans in real time to provide early warnings of risk.
However, in Vietnam, data exploitation and sharing still face many obstacles due to high requirements for information security and a cautious legal framework. Data is scattered, lacking mechanisms for controlled connection and sharing, making it difficult for banks to build a complete picture of their customers. This is also one of the reasons why digital lending has not been able to break through as strongly as in many developed markets.
Global experience shows that data is a core asset of the NHS. Proper data utilization, combined with technological capabilities and sharing within an interconnected ecosystem, helps banks better manage risks and create real value for customers. Data is no longer about collecting as much as possible, but about being accurate, clean, authorized, and transformable into decision-making. This requires banks to fully manage the customer journey and redefine the roles of technology and people: AI for forecasting and mentoring, and human resources for advising and problem-solving. Only by seriously upgrading its digital capabilities can the NHS transform from a convenient payment wallet into a truly effective NHS.
Every spring, people talk about hope. For NHS Vietnam, hope doesn't lie in how many new features are added, but in daring to redefine itself. From a convenient payment application, NHS can become a smart financial friend: understanding customers, helping them make better decisions, feel more secure, and have more freedom in managing their money. That path is not short, not easy, and cannot be simply copied from the rest of the world. But what has been achieved shows that Vietnam has the foundation, the market, and the ambition.
According to sggp.org.vn
Source: https://baodongthap.vn/giac-mo-ngan-hang-so-thuc-su-a237049.html
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