TNEX has once again been named Best Digital-only Bank in Vietnam, receiving the award for the second year in a row at the Excellence in Retail Financial Services Convention 2023, organized by The Asian Banker.

This award is part of The Asian Banker‘s World’s Best Digital Banks Awards, which recognize banks that are innovative in their digital offerings and strategies, and provide their customers with a state-of-the-art banking experience.

The company’s win solidifies its position as a leader in digital banking in Vietnam, just two years after its launch. TNEX has experienced high growth, reaching 1.5 million customers and posting a year-on-year growth of 200%. The bank has developed advanced tools, including an emoji-driven PFM, savings pots, and an education portal, to simplify its customers’ everyday banking needs.

“We are thrilled that our efforts to deliver an inclusive lifestyle banking experience for young customers have been recognized by The Asian Banker,” said Bryan Carroll, CEO of TNEX. “We believe the key to our success is actively listening to and understanding our customers’ everyday needs and continuously supporting these needs through advanced cloud-native technologies, strong partnerships, data science, and most importantly, our culture of innovation.”

TNEX was selected from a record number of entrants, ranked based on the number of customers, market coverage, product portfolio, and financial metrics. With this award, TNEX confirms its leadership in digital banking through its commitment to constant innovation, a unique platform, and a constantly evolving multi-product line-up that anticipates the needs and preferences of customers to offer the best experience and service.

TNEX offers a wide range of products to its customers in Vietnam, including current and savings accounts, debit cards, and non-life insurance policies. The bank has also partnered with a pioneer in wealth management technology in Vietnam to enable customers to access a wide variety of investment products with an entry-level investment as low as $0.40.

TNEX was founded in December 2020 with a mission to improve the financial well-being of more than 50 million underbanked Vietnamese who have little access to formal financial services by providing access to free, convenient, simple, and secure banking services. Its platform offers simple access at no charge to a wide range of banking services, including a bank account, debit card, step counter, chat, mood tracker, and a free game hub.

TNEX was recognized as Best Digital-only Bank in Vietnam at The Asian Banker Vietnam Awards 2022.It has also received overwhelmingly positive reviews on the app store. TNEX regularly rolls out features to further enrich its customers’ lives, such as the “happiness meter” that brings an emotional aspect to the app.

TNEX is connected with various industry players and ecosystems to promote financial inclusive initiatives with zero-transaction fees for both retail and SME customers.

Related: International Finance magazine names TNEX the “Best New Digital Bank” Vietnam 2021

According to the The Asian Banker, the finalists for Best Digital-only Bank in Vietnam were TNEX and UBank. TNEX scored higher in big data and process and technology.

As one of Vietnam’s first digital-only banks for retail consumers and micro-merchants, TNEX bank acquired 500,000 retail and 15,000 SME mobile banking customer sign-ups a year since it was launched in 2020, the Asian Banker reported.

TNEX aims to enhance customer experience by offering behind-the-scenes banking services embedded in lifestyle functions on its app. Retail customers can track their mood with the use of emojis as a financial management feature to monitor and manage their money.
Customers get daily updates on their spendings. For example, the bank will use a crying emoji if a customer is spending too much. Financial products are offered on the bank’s market place. The app enables users to chat with their friends, fund transfer, top-up funds, and pay monthly bills.

TNEX has a separate app and banking system for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The app was designed to support SMEs with service packages such as free website creation, invoicing, cash management, product inventory, and campaign management. The bank guarantees lifetime zero-fee on transactions such as transfer, withdrawal, as well as annual fees and account management fees.

“TNEX partnered with Mambu, Amazon Web Services (AWS), TopeBox, TechX, and iConnect. The bank operates a fully open API platform. It built a compliant cloud solution with 168 data flows through its partnership with TechX and AWS”. Bryan Carroll, Chief Executive Officer and Cofounder, TNEX told reporter.

Bryan Carroll
Founder and CEO, TNEX Digital Bank

“The TNEX banking app uses Mambu’s software-as-a-service cloud banking platform. Micro-services and container orchestration using Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS) were key to creating a scalable, logically isolated infrastructure in less than a year”, Bryan Carroll added.

TNEX showed resilience against cyber threats through its containerization which added benefit of application segregation. The bank designed AWS Landing Zone with multiple authentication layers and encryption of data at rest and in transit with the help of TechX and AWS solutions architects. It uses AWS Web Application Firewall with designated security groups and AWS Key Management Service to administer application keys.

In addition to security, TNEX relies on its data team to monitor systems in real time. Data is at the core of the company’s business model, and data scientists use Amazon CloudWatch and Amazon GuardDuty to detect deviations that could indicate fraudulent activity. TNEX complies with Vietnam’s data sovereignty regulations. TechX was instrumental in helping the bank to assess and manage risk and implement compliance controls that would scale with the business, according to the Asian Banker.

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Source: Vietnam Insider

The prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has unexpectedly created “golden” conditions for the financial industry to accelerate digital transformation and shift to cashless payments.

However, mobile payments need to be implemented soon to reduce the disparity between urban and rural areas. They can also be an effective payment channel in supporting people in remote and isolated areas.

In addition to online shopping, people can also pay for their electricity, water, telecoms and even hospital fees through banking accounts or e-wallets.

Related: COVID-19 is speeding up Vietnam’s digital transformation. Here’s how!

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020, the number and value of transactions through non-cash payment methods have increased sharply compared to the previous period, according to Can Van Luc, a banking and finance expert.

In the first half of 2021, non-cash payments increased by 30-40 percent in transactions and by 70-80 percent in value.

Despite the sharp increase, it was undeniable that cash payments were still popular in Vietnam because consumption habits as well as payment coverage had not reached rural and remote areas, Luc said.

Can Van Luc, a banking and finance expert

In Vietnam, cash payment methods in e-commerce still accounted for the highest rate at 28 percent, followed by money transfers at 26 percent, e-wallets 21 percent and credit cards 14 percent.

Meanwhile, worldwide, payments via e-wallet accounted for the largest proportion at 44.5 percent, followed by credit cards with 22.8 percent.

The use of cash as a popular payment method in Vietnam was considered both a challenge and an opportunity for involved parties.

To serve Vietnam’s 30 million Gen Z consumers and 4 million small businesses, TNEX, a Vietnam-based digital bank – is combining financial and lifestyle needs into one app. So far, TNEX offers free everyday banking for individuals and businesses.

“We would all agree that the hardest part of digitization is the culture of people. We need to look at how do we give them the right talent because talent leads to a mindset as well leads to a culture.” said Bryan Carroll, CEO of TNEX at 2021 SEA Digital Week.

Bryan Carroll
Founder and CEO, TNEX Digital Bank

The Government in March approved pilot application for Mobile Money, which allows the use of mobile-phone credit to pay for small-value goods and services.

The pilot application for mobile money services aims to contribute to the development of non-cash payments, improving the access and use of financial services, especially in rural, remote, border and island areas.

Viettel, VNPT and MobiFone are the three telecom operators that submitted applications for a pilot license to deploy Mobile Money. However, more than five months since issuing the decision, Mobile Money has not been implemented, largely due to the prolonged impact of COVID-19.

At a forum on developing non-cash payments recently held by the International Data Group, deputy director of MobiFone Digital Service Centre Pham Minh Tu said that MobiFone was still in the process of completing procedures and applying for a license to launch the product.

Mobile Money targets unbanked customers. Based on the advantage of widespread networks in remote areas, telecom providers could fill the gaps that banks have not yet penetrated.

“There was still much room for the development of cashless payment in Vietnam, but it would be rocky. Cashless transactions are currently concentrated mainly in urban areas” Tu said.

Also read: What are the key trends of Vietnam’s digital banking in the next normal?

Meanwhile in rural areas, which account for about 60 percent of the population, non-cash payment has not been popular, leaving room for development.

According to Tu, if Mobile Money is exploited, it would make a change and upgrade society, reducing the gap between urban and rural areas. People in rural areas could sell their products through payment tools and e-commerce.

However, experts have also said the development of Mobile Money or non-cash payment methods in Vietnam still faces many challenges. The most important thing now is to change people’s consumption habits through financial education programs as a pillar in implementing a comprehensive financial development strategy.

On the other hand, the Government also needs to complete the legal corridor for the digital economy and government, including digital finance.

In addition, it is necessary to continue to upgrade the information technology system and digital infrastructure in remote areas, raise awareness and increase consumer confidence.

The Government also needs to develop an open banking system with stronger cooperation among commercial banks, Fintech and payment intermediaries, according to Vietnam News Agency.

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Source: Vietnam Insider