According to Vietcombank, at the end of 2018, this bank continued to lead in card and payment field. In particular, the bank had a 13 percent market share in the number of international cards issued in Vietnam, while accounted for 19 percent of the market share of domestic debit cards.
Domestic card issued by Vietcombank by the end of 2018 was 13.5 million cards; The number of international cards was 1.278 million cards. The number of e-banking users of this bank also increased sharply. In particular, the number of SMS Banking users at the end of 2018 was 10.56 million, the number of people using Online Banking service (including Internet Banking and Mobile Banking) was more than 6.16 million people.
In 2018, Vietcombank’s card payment volume was 114.2 trillion dong, an increase of 31 percent compared to 2017. International card spending was 38.6 trillion dong, an increase of 22 percent compared to 2017.
Vietcombank’s dominance in card market and payment in the market is easy to see from many years ago and there is no need for statistics but visually.
Looking back on history, Vietcombank was the first bank to deploy domestic debit card payment service in Vietnam (since 1993). First international credit cards in Vietnam were also issued by Vietcombank and Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ACB) in the 1996s. Vietcombank is also the bank with the most card issuers, including Visa, Master, JCB, Diner’s Club, China Union Pay, American Express.
Many large and small enterprises in the country are paying salaries to their employees through accounts at Vietcombank. In addition, it is the advantage of a leading bank in foreign currency trading, international payment, foreign exchange, etc. All help the bank to maintain market share and become “champion” in the field of payment.
However, up to now, in the race to issue cards and payment services among banks, customers have more choices than before. Market share of Vietcombank in that context is still maintained?
The rise of private banks
Recently, in a meeting with Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank) investors, this bank leader provided many figures showing spectacular growth in the payment field. Accordingly, Techcombank was proud to be the main transaction bank of retail customers when it rose to No. One in mobile payment. As of the end of June 2019, this bank accounted for 33 percent market share of mobile banking.
Techcombank was also ranked No. One when accounting for 20 percent of Visa card payment volume market share in Vietnam, both debit and credit cards, growing 96 percent over the same period last year.
Techcombank’s debit card numbers at the end of Q2/2019 were 619 thousand cards, up 28 percent over the same period. The total value of Visa debit transactions in the first half of 2019 reached 23 trillion dong.
Regarding Visa credit card, the number of cards at the end of Q2/2019 of Techcombank was 223 thousand, up 43 percent over the same period. Total trading value reached 13 trillion dong in the first half of the year.
Techcombank’s number of e-banking customers at the end of Q2/2019 was more than 2 million people, nearly doubling compared to the same period in 2018. The total value of e-banking transactions in the first six months of the year was more than 1 quadrillion dong, up more than three times over the same period in 2018.
Techcombank said that the digitalisation solution with zero fee and one percent cash back had a strong impact on the number of customers using payment services, resulting in impressive CASA growth in the retail segment. While the industry average CASA rate was only nine percent, Techcombank reached over 30 percent.
Along with Techcombank, Vietnam Prosperity Joint-Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank) also experienced rapid growth in the card market, especially credit cards in recent years.
In the recently updated data, VPBank said that at the end of Q2/2019, the total number of cards issued by VPBank reached 4.725 million cards. In particular, the number of credit cards was over 2.6 million cards, the card activation rate of individual customers was up to 71.1 percent.
In terms of market share, at the end of Q1/2019, VPBank’s outstanding personal credit card numbers were nearly 443,000 cards, accounting for 10 percent of the market share. The total transaction value was $521 million, accounting for 20 percent of the total market.
Who will be the leader in payment and card issuance?
From the above data, in terms of overall card market, Vietcombank still had a difference in quantity and trading volume compared to other banks at the present time. However, the rapid development of private banks in the past caused Vietcombank to cede its position in some specific aspects.
For example, in terms of volume of Visa card payment, Techcombank ranked No. One. VPBank said there were more than 400,000 credit cards of the parent bank and more than 1 million cards of FE Credit at the end of 2018, which was the bank with the largest number of active credit card numbers at that time.
Remarkably, private banks were also more active in attracting customers to use their card services and payment services. Free programmes of annual fees, transfer fees, gifts, refunds were often seen in large private banks in the past.
And the following banks do not need to be at the top of the market but will choose the segments that bring the most benefits to focus on competition. For example, a few years ago, spending a lot of money to pursue the trend of issuing cards but did not care whether customers activated and used them led to waste of money and resources.
