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Best Online Banks in Vietnam

The pandemic sped up the move to digital in many fields, such as retail, entertainment, and banking. Vietnam was the same as the rest.

There are almost 100 million people in the country, but only 30% of them have a bank account. Even stranger is that only about 2% of people have credit cards.

As you can see, digital banks have a lot of room to grow. Even more so when we know that about 70% of people have a smartphone and 66% have internet.

It’s also one of the first places where 5G networks were tested and worked well.

The country is also known as a place where fintech companies start up. By 2030, at least 10 tech unicorns are expected to be based there.

In 2018, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) released a plan for the banking sector to grow and change until 2025. It includes changing the laws that are already on the books to help banks, credit unions, and fintechs adopt new technologies like cashless payments and e-KYC.

If lawmakers can keep up with technology, digital financial services could bring in $3.8 billion by 2025, and mobile transactions could grow by 300% in the same time frame.

Some of Vietnam’s traditional banks have been brought up to date by putting out full-service digital banking apps.

Vietcombank and BIDV, which are both big state-run banks, come to mind as examples of successful core banking and payments system modernization.

Then there are new online banks that have been very successful, like MoMo, VNPay, Cake, Timo, and others.

Since 2020, the number of transactions on Vietnam’s top payment app, MoMo, have doubled. And the number of payments made through VNPay went up by 600%. Both new banks did very well because of the pandemic.

Select one of the best online banks in Vietnam, don’t wait any longer.

Here is an alphabetical list of the most important and the best online banks in Vietnam. They include both traditional banks that have started offering digital bank accounts and fintech companies that have started new banks, often in partnership with other fintechs or incumbents.

 

Best Online Banks in Vietnam

best-overall-bank
BIDV bank - logo

BIDV iBank

The Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), which is owned by the government, made an app for business customers called BIDV iBank. It’s an ecosystem of online banking services that can be used on any platform.

With a wide range of smartly designed products and a user-friendly, modern interface, BIDV iBank gives customers the best possible experience.

Businesses can offer financial services (like domestic and international money transfers and money transfers based on the list), non-financial services (like account inquiries, card management, digital signature management, etc.), and centralized cash flow management (like automatic money transfers, cash flow management, etc.).

Some other things and features are:

  • Automatic salary payment
  • Online term deposit
  • Putting money into the State budget (pay taxes and fees, pay social insurance, health insurance)
  • Trade finance transactions need to be done
  • Buy and sell other countries’ currencies
Cake bank - online

Cake

In addition to having its own digital banking app, the Vietnam Prosperity Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VPBank) also launched the neobank Cake in partnership with the ride-hailing app Be, which is owned by the Be Group Joint Stock Company. Back in January 2021, this happened.

Like other online banks, the Cake app lets you open an account, move money between accounts, or pay bills without having to go to a branch.

Cake doesn’t charge any fees for service, management, account maintenance, or transfers. Account holders get a free International Mastercard that lets them pay quickly and easily without touching a card reader.

The cards come in four bright colors, and you can use them to get cash at more than 630 VPBank ATMs and more than a million ATMs around the world that accept Mastercard.

And maybe the best thing about Cake is the 3.6% interest rate on savings. That’s 18 times more than the average interest rate on a regular account, which is 0.2%.

Select one of the best online banks in Vietnam, don’t wait any longer.

FinFan bank - online

FinFan

FinFan is another online bank account for business. It’s a one-stop shop for businesses that want to send, receive, and move money anywhere in the world.

It is important because it is the first fintech company in Vietnam to get a license. Since it started in 2007, the company has grown a lot to become the biggest money transfer service in Vietnam.

FinFan is seen as one of the most important companies in the country’s digital banking revolution.

The company was the first new bank in Vietnam to use the Ripple XRP blockchain network and the RippleNet global financial payments network, which is used by more than 300 banks around the world.

This gave FinFan a bridge between the multi-currency exchange and the countries where the money was going that worked in real time and could be settled right away.

MoMo bank - logo

MoMo

MoMo has been available in Vietnam for more than ten years. It started out as an electronic wallet. But now, many people think of it as a super-app for money.

Goldman Sachs, Standard Chartered, and other well-known VCs have put $434 million into the company so far.

It makes sense, since more than 30 million people use the app. Even though MoMo is a super-app, it is easy to use and has a friendly interface. Because of this, people of all ages and jobs can use MoMo easily and quickly.

MoMo has a lot of different features, like sending money, putting money in savings, investing, and getting loans. It also has features for entertainment, travel, and giving.

MoMo doesn’t make you keep a certain amount of money in your account, and there are no start-up fees, usage fees, or other hidden costs.

It is now directly linked to more than 25 banks through its wallet. With the MoMo wallet, customers can pay for all of their daily utilities, like cable TV, internet, electricity, or water. They can also buy plane, car, or train tickets, make taxi payments, buy movie tickets at all theaters, book maid services, buy fresh flowers, get installment loans from any financial company, or use MoMo to pay at MoMo pay points.

Timo bank - logo

Timo

Timo is a challenger bank that was started in 2015. It works with Viet Capital Bank to offer private banking without requiring you to keep a large balance in your account.

Timo lets people make basic payments and banking requests like sending money, paying bills, and shopping online without having to go to a branch. They can also open a bank account right away, without having to go to the bank to sign up.

Timo is ready to bridge the gap between customers and banking services in this digital age by using technology.

Timo is different from other apps because it doesn’t waste your time. This is because the app’s interface is friendly and easy to use. There are no hidden fees, and you can choose between fixed and flexible ways to save.

Timo gives you full access to your account so you can do all your banking at any time. Your money is safe at Viet Capital Bank and is protected by the State Bank of Vietnam.

TNEX bank - logo

TNEX

TNEX is mostly focused on Gen Z, also called “zoomers,” which is expected to grow to 15 million people by 2025. It does this by offering a digital banking app with no fees. It was thought up by Maritime Bank (MSB).

TNEX was released in stages. First, the digital bank launched TNEX Merchant in August 2020 to build its ecosystem. Second, customers were able to download its full banking service in November 2020. Last but not least, TNEX released a number of credit products for merchants.

TNEX’s service includes game technology, messaging, social media, a full-merchant ecosystem, and a full payments network.

They put a lot of money into the graphics of its application, which turned TNEX banking into a highly personalized virtual world that Genzers find especially appealing.

There are only four easy steps to join TNEX:

  1. Download the TNEX app from IOS/CH Play
  2. Open an account
  3. Photograph CMT/CCCD (both front and back)
  4. Follow the instructions to take a photo for face detection.
  5. Confirm the information you added and enter the OTP.
TPBank bank - logo

TPBank

One of the best and most well-known online banks in Vietnam is TPBank. It has won many awards, including the “Best Digital Banking App” award from Global Brands Magazine.

It’s easy to see why, since they offer some unique banking services. For example, there are no fees for any of their checking accounts, and you can even open one with a personalized account number or a nickname instead of a number.

You can also open a number of savings accounts. For example, there are foreign currency accounts that don’t have a set term and regular term savings accounts that pay interest on a regular basis, at the end of the term, or even at the start of the term.

There are also domestic debit cards, international debit cards, and international credit cards that you can get.

As well as loans, TPBank has a wide range of insurance products.

Aside from a personal account, there is a separate platform for business accounts that includes account management, savings accounts, international transfers, loans and financing, guarantees, Forex service, etc.

Übank bank - logo

Übank

At the end of February 2022, Übank released its digital banking app. The VPBank backs the fintech company, which is based in Ho Chi Minh.

A regular account gives you all the usual benefits and a high savings interest rate of 3.6%. You can also open an ÜPayroll account, which is linked to your salary and gives you extra benefits like:

  • Financial support up to 10 times the salary
  • You can get up to 1.2% cash back, which is 0.2% more than with a standard account.
  • High interest on savings: 4.0%, which is 0.4% more than usual.
  • No fees
  • No cost to process loan applications
    Free insurance package up to 100,000,000 VND/year from OPES

Übank and other digital banks are different from traditional banks because you can use the money in your account and still get interest on the rest.

And since Übank is backed by VPBank, you can use 240+ VPBank branches to put money in your account, 630+ VPBank ATMs to get cash, and 200+ VPBank CDMs across the country to make automatic cash deposits.

VCB Digibank - logo

VCB Digibank

 

Vietcombank was started in 1963, and it is now the biggest commercial bank in Vietnam, with assets worth 50 billion USD.

Vietcombank has more than 18,000 employees and does business all over Vietnam. The Head Office is in Hanoi, and the bank has more than 550 branches and transaction offices all over the country.

Vietcombank put together Internet Banking and Mobile Banking, which were previously two separate platforms, into one app called Digibank. This means that from now on, customers can:

  • Uniform username and password. Customers won’t have to try to remember two different login names and passwords at once.
  • VCB Digibank username is the phone number registered by the customer with the bank.
  • Users will have a single online transaction limit, up to 1 billion VND/transaction for ordinary customers and 3 billion for Priority Banking
  • Make money transfers, payments, and purchases with ease
  • Receive balance fluctuations via OTT messages. The OTT Alert is integrated right into the VCB Digibank application, replacing SMS notifications, and helping customers with cost-saving
  • Enhanced security

The bank has big plans for the future. The long-term goal for VCB in 2025 and its vision for 2030 are:

  • To keep being the number one company in Vietnam
  • To be one of the 100 biggest banks in Asia
  • To be one of the 300 biggest financial and banking groups
  • To be one of the world’s 1000 largest public companies
VNPay bank - logo

VNPay

VNPay is the biggest financial services company in Vietnam. Its main service is electronic payment solutions, but it also offers e-wallets, money transfers, phone top-ups, bill payments, tickets for trains and planes, and a lot more.

Its mobile banking app lets people manage accounts, make financial transactions, manage cards, withdraw money using QR codes, save, and do other things.

VNPAY wants to build an ecosystem where mobile banking apps are built by VNPAY on mobile platforms that use the latest technologies, such as Big Data, Blockchain, AI, VR/AR, and IoT.

To do this, the fintech company uses cutting-edge programming techniques that allow for fast and accurate data processing and meet high-security requirements.

OceanBank, Saigonbank, ABBANK, Indovinabank, VietinBank, BIDV, BIDC, Agribank, Eximbank, HDBank, NamA Bank, Vietcombank, NCB, VietBank, SCB, and others are some of the banks that use VNPay.

VPBank NEO - logo

VPBank NEO

Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank, also known as VPBank, is one of Vietnam’s oldest joint-stock commercial banks.

It has a number of digital banking products and apps, but one of them is directly linked to its core banking product. The name of it is VPBank NEO.

It’s an easy and safe way to keep track of all your accounts, open a savings account, transfer money, pay bills, get loans, activate and secure cards, and do other things.

The Digital Banker magazine was only kind to one Vietnamese bank, and that was VPBank. It got the “Best Mobile Banking Initiatives 2021” award for its NEO app, which came out in 2021.

Zalo Pay bank - logo

Zalo Pay

Zalo Pay is last, but not least. A payment app for mobile devices that has a lot of great features. Zalo Pay is backed by 39 banks, three international card organizations, and financial switching organizations.

Zalo Pay was built on top of Zalo, the most popular messaging app in Vietnam, which was already there.

Since Zalo has more than 100 million users, the company can use its brand and big data to make money.

E-wallets are very popular in Vietnam and Asia in general, and users can now do a lot more with them than just keep money in them to pay for things and send money to other people.

Conclusion – Best Online Banks in Vietnam

With tens of millions of customers who are ready for digital banking and 70% of the population still not having a bank account, digital banking in Vietnam looks like a very good idea. In fact, it looks a lot like the one we just learned about in Mexico.

But the two countries face some of the same problems as they move toward digital transformation, especially when it comes to digital banking.

First of all, the neobanks all seem to focus on the middle class, which is mostly made up of people who live in cities, and not on the unbanked, who tend to be from rural areas.

Challenger banks are also being held back by slow changes to regulations, but this seems to be changing in recent years.

Skilled professionals are also in demand, but there aren’t enough of them, so all the companies are competing for the same pool of people.

Some digital banks also can’t get investors as quickly as they’d like, which makes it much harder for them to grow their businesses.

Overall, digital banking seems to be on the right track, and the number of people in Vietnam who don’t have a bank account should go down a lot. Having a bank account is one of the things that makes an economy grow and people successful. Select one of the best online banks in Vietnam, don’t wait any longer.

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