AI must create real value
On August 18, in Hanoi, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) organized the event "Digital Transformation of the Banking Industry in 2026" with the theme "Smart Banking in the Data and AI Era".
Speaking at the opening, Deputy Governor of the SBV Pham Tien Dung said that this year's event marks the 5-year journey of digital transformation of the banking industry, from connecting and exploiting population data, expanding the digital ecosystem to building a smart digital ecosystem.
According to the Deputy Governor, with the message "Data leads, AI accompanies, banks create a digital ecosystem", digital transformation in the banking industry aims to integrate, share and exploit data effectively based on responsible AI applications.
The goal is to develop smart banking services, helping people and businesses use banking products and services safely, conveniently, anywhere, anytime, while reducing costs and simplifying procedures.
Deputy Governor Pham Tien Dung emphasized that the banking industry is one of the fields with a high level of readiness, daily impact on people and is identified as needing to prioritize digital transformation. Over the past time, the entire industry has synchronously implemented guidelines and policies on science and technology, innovation and digital transformation.
Speaking to direct at the event, Member of the Party Central Committee, Governor of the SBV Pham Duc An said that digital transformation in the banking sector is entering a new phase with higher requirements for productivity, growth quality, competitiveness and self-reliance of the economy.
According to the Governor, digital transformation of banks is not only aimed at modernizing banks themselves but also must contribute to improving productivity, reducing social costs, expanding access to services and creating new growth momentum for the economy.
The theme "Smart banking in the data and AI era" also reflects the requirements of the new stage, when data and artificial intelligence are not self-determined goals but must become resources and tools to serve governance, product innovation, risk management and better serve people and businesses.
The Governor said that after 5 years, digital transformation in the banking industry has achieved many positive results. The institution for banking operations in the digital environment has been gradually completed; payment infrastructure and digital infrastructure continue to be invested and upgraded; connection with national databases has been expanded and digital banking services are increasingly deepening into life.
However, according to the Governor, the results achieved are only initial steps. The deeper digital transformation goes, the faster issues related to institutions, data, network security, digital fraud, privacy protection and AI management appear. From there, the Governor requested the entire sector to focus on implementing 6 key task groups.
First of all, continue to review and improve the legal framework, both promoting innovation and effectively controlling risks, especially new issues arising from AI, banking data and new digital banking models.
Second, the banking industry needs to continue to upgrade digital infrastructure, modernize national payment infrastructure in a safe, continuous, and capable direction to handle large volumes and transaction values.
In parallel with that, it is to improve data quality in the direction of "correct, sufficient, clean, living, unified", increasing connectivity and sharing with the National Data Center and national and specialized databases.
The Governor requested the banking sector to take the lead in management, supervision and decision-making based on data, thereby improving forecasting and early warning capabilities.
Not applying AI as a trend
Another important task is to promote AI application in a substantive direction, creating specific values.
According to Governor Pham Duc An, banks need to research the application of AI in data analysis, risk management, fraud detection, process optimization, customer care and product development.
Along with expanding applications, the banking industry needs to soon form a suitable AI governance mechanism, ensuring control, accountability, data protection and the legitimate rights of customers.
Security and safety are also contents that the Governor especially emphasized in the context of crime increasingly using AI, deepfaking and sophisticated technological tricks.
Banks are required to strongly shift from incident response to proactive early and remote prevention; invest commensurately in network security, data security and fraud prevention.
The Governor emphasized that units are not only responsible for protecting the system but also must contribute to protecting customers, not trading safety, privacy and user trust for growth in digital transformation.
According to information released by the SBV at the event, as of July 31, 2026, the entire industry has successfully compared biometrics for more than 167.8 million individual customer records and more than 2.78 million organizational customer records through chip-based citizen identification cards or the VNeID application.
From the time of deployment to the end of August 6, 2026, the service to query the status of payment accounts and e-wallets with signs of suspicion of fraud, fraud, and law violations on the SIMO system has warned more than 4.9 million customers.
In which, more than 1.6 million customers have temporarily stopped or canceled transactions after receiving warnings, with a total transaction amount equivalent to more than 5,500 billion VND.
Digital transformation must help people access capital more conveniently
The Governor also requested that digital transformation in the banking sector must directly serve people, businesses and promote comprehensive finance.
Accordingly, banks need to better exploit data to innovate customer assessment methods, credit management and product development suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises, business households, cooperatives, workers and rural areas.
The application of data needs to contribute to creating conditions for customers with feasible business plans and transparent cash flow to access capital more conveniently at reasonable costs.
The digital transformation process must also pay attention to the elderly, vulnerable people, and people in remote and isolated areas, ensuring the ability to access basic financial services conveniently and safely.
The final group of tasks is to develop human resources, especially human resources in data, AI, technology and network security.
The Governor requests the heads of units to directly lead, direct and be responsible for the results of digital transformation. Each task must clearly define goals, products, responsible persons, resources and implementation deadlines.
Not following the trend" is the requirement set by the Governor, accordingly, the results of digital transformation must be assessed by the actual problems solved and the real value brought.
According to the SBV, by the end of 2025, nearly 89% of Vietnamese people aged 15 and over have payment accounts; many credit institutions have a transaction rate through digital channels of over 95%; non-cash payment value reaches more than 28 times GDP.
In the period 2021-2025, the number and value of non-cash payment transactions increased by an average of 58.86% and 24.36% respectively each year. In the first 6 months of 2026 alone, the number of transactions increased by 34.28%, and the value increased by 12.24% compared to the same period in 2025.
