Techcombank Aspire aims to empower customers, making banking seamless and easy

The bank won two trophies at the ABF Retail Banking Awards.

Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank) is Vietnam’s leading non-government-owned bank with a vision to change banking and change the lives of the people of Vietnam.

In August 2022, the Bank launched Aspire, the first financial brand dedicated to the ‘Why Not?’ generation of customers who are young, ambitious, and believe in a brighter future. 

According to Darren Buckley, Chief Retail Banking Group Officer at Techcombank, “Techcombank Aspire is a whole value proposition designed around customers, designed to empower customers to make banking seamless and easy, and let them bank in a new way that is tailored to their needs and preferences." 

Aspire is the latest innovation from Techcombank, which is at the forefront of the transformation of the banking industry in Vietnam. This pioneering approach has helped it to win two awards at the 2022 Asian Banking & Finance (ABF) Retail Banking Awards, taking home the prizes for Domestic Bank of the Year – Vietnam, and Credit Card Initiative of the Year - Vietnam.

The award for Domestic Bank of the Year in Vietnam recognises Techcombank for its customer-centric approach, industry-leading digital capabilities, and commitment to delivering outstanding product offerings and digital customer experiences. 

The award for Credit Card Initiative of the Year was given in recognition of Techcombank’s new flagship credit card offering, the Techcombank Spark Card. This unique card offers customers the flexibility to choose and change their reward categories to fit their lifestyle and spending habits. Techcombank’s Spark Card is an all-in-one card that can adapt to meet the changing needs of customers all year round and at any stage in life.

These two awards demonstrate the success of Techcombank’s ongoing five-year transformation strategy [2021-2025], which is based on the three pillars of Talent, Digital, and Data.

Attracting, training, and retaining the best talent from within Vietnam and across ASEAN is one of the priority pillars of Techcombank’s strategy. In 2021, Techcombank hired an additional 4,375 new employees, around 700 of these were in the areas of technology, digital and data. 

Jens Lottner, CEO of Techcombank, explained that “in addition to acquiring local talents, we also source talents internationally, targeting returning Vietnamese and expats who want to be part of Techcombank’s digital transformation and make a difference in one of the world’s fastest-growing economies”. 

To empower its customer-centric approach, Techcombank has been investing heavily in enhancing its digital and data processing capabilities. A recent milestone for the Bank was the launch of its new mobile banking app, enabling customers to access a full range of retail banking products and services ‘on the go’ from their mobile phones. By end of June 2022, more than 70% of the Bank’s active retail customers had successfully migrated to the new mobile banking app, giving them access to simple and intuitive “banking at your fingertips” solutions. 

Techcombank’s transformation strategy has enabled the Bank to maintain its growth momentum during Q2 2022, navigating a significantly more volatile environment. Its core revenue engines continued to perform well, with credit demand and margins remaining high and strong double-digit growth from key fee drivers. Notably, Techcombank was able to accelerate credit exposure diversification toward retail customers, who at the end of June accounted for 46.6% of its credit balances, up from 38.8% at the end of March. The Bank ended Q2 2022 with 10.1 million customers, adding over 0.2 million in the last quarter, with the number of retail customer transactions through e-banking channels growing to 206.1 million, up 28.8% YoY. 

“We will now build on this success by continuing to upgrade our technology and infrastructure and offering new and unique digital experiences to our customers," concluded Lottner.