Digital banks will be driving the fintech race in Vietnam

At Timo, we are building a modern banking service that is responsive to this consumer demand – one that is accessible, relevant, and valuable to our customers.

Square Peg and Timo also share the same goal, and both firms are committed to adding a positive value to customers’ lives, solving customers’ problems in ways others cannot. Square Peg is a world-class and knowledgeable investment firm that seeded many tech unicorns from their infancy like Canva, FinAccel and AirWallex. This investment not only signals digital bank is the future in Vietnam but also affirms Timo’s leading position in this vital sector.

Regarding the good news, Henry Nguyen – CEO of Timo Digital Bank has shared about the company’s strategy to accelerate further its service in the use of the new funding.

Mr. Henry Nguyen – CEO of Timo Digital Bank.

Covid-19 has taken a severe toll on the economy and businesses. How has it shifted consumer behavior regarding contactless payment?

Consumer behavior has evolved and changed rapidly by necessity and then by force of habit created by four months of lockdown. The pandemic forced people to interact and transact virtually, greatly accelerating online transactions and electronic payments. Avoiding face-to-face interactions has driven more rapid adoption of cashless and contactless payments among consumers – and these newly acquired behaviors will remain even after the pandemic.

Along with adapting to the new normal of life with the pandemic, electronic transactions are reaching the tipping point. Consumers demand that their banking and financial services respond to their needs and keep up with the rapid changes in how they manage the transactions in their lives. At Timo, we are building a modern banking service that is responsive to this consumer demand – one that is accessible, relevant, and valuable to our customers.

We know that banking does not exist in isolation and believe in social banking. For us, this begins with slight shifts in mindsets, thinking about connecting people instead of just bank accounts. This extends to big questions like how banking can be valuable and relevant to customers. Most of all, our team at Timo is driven by making the lives of our customers better and more prosperous.

We have worked on many platforms such as Zalo Connect during the strict lockdowns to help people adapt to the complex environment where transactions cannot happen face-to-face. We made sure our Timo customers could process all peer-to-peer transactions easily and quickly.

How is Timo partnering with other financial institutions, such as banks and e-wallets in Vietnam?

Timo believes that a robust digital ecosystem will make it easier for fintech businesses to develop faster and connect with modern digital customers more engagingly. A digital ecosystem built on solid partnerships will enhance the value that we all create for our customers and accelerate the growth and adoption of our services. It is a win-win approach where one plus one is more significant than two.

Like many tech startups, we are always moving as fast as we can to develop the best possible products for our customers. However, we also know the power and value of partnerships and nourish an ever-growing network of partners. We want to create synergistic values for Timo, our partners, and our entire universe of users. Of course, building these networks takes tremendous time and effort. It is not just technology; it is a lot of product work and interfacing between the two companies.

In addition to developing more products and constantly improving quality and accessibility, Timo and our strategic partners will continue building our ecosystem to offer a range of convenient services while ensuring the customer's needs and experience are at the center of it all.

Large parts of the Vietnamese population are still unbanked and underbanked. How can Timo’s non-cash services help this segment achieve financial inclusion?

Financial inclusion is one of our primary missions at Timo. As traditional banking services can be operationally expensive, they tend to ignore customers on the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder. Timo believes all people in Vietnam should have access to no-fee banking services and become more integrated into the formal economy.

Offering no-cost banking services to all customers means there is one less barrier for them to perform electronic and cashless transactions and therefore be a part of the rapidly growing digital economy. To achieve this, a big part of our work is to educate and provide access to essential banking services.

This means developing and applying the latest technologies to serve a more significant segment of the population in a low-cost way.

In the end, the most important thing we focus on is how to serve our customers best so that their financial lives can be easier to manage, more accessible and convenient, and simply more prosperous and more valuable. Technology is just one of many tools to do this. Our team at Timo and their drive to serve our customers are making this happen. They too are customers, and they want to make a great product that makes everyone’s life better.

At Timo, we work hard to identify the problems and challenges that banking customers face every day. Being customer-centric is a core part of our ethos. Regardless of the barriers we meet in solving these problems, we know we must continue improving every day to serve our customers and earn their trust. Winning our customers’ trust and love is critical to our long-term success.

Prime Minister believes in public, business support for national digital transformation Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has expressed his belief that the public and business community will actively support the building of national database on population ...

Population database to be optimised for national digital transformation Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has signed a decision approving a project on developing the application of population database, e-identification and e-authentication for national digital ...