Established in 2016, CIMB Bank Vietnam is known as a disruptive force in the domain of digital banking, providing a wide range of innovative financial products and services to individuals, businesses and corporations.
The Vietnamese venture’s customers now can open personal accounts, and apply for cards and loans, all online.
The financial institution has also been awarded the titles ‘Most Innovative Financial Inclusion Strategic Partnership – Vietnam 2022’ and ‘Most Innovative Digital Bank – Vietnam 2023’ by the International Finance.
Unparalleled Range Of Payment Card Services
Back in early 2020, CIMB’s ‘Millenial Contactless Debit Card’ was the first-ever virtual debit card in Vietnam. To avail of this, all one needs to do is a simple eKYC (Electronic Know Your Customer) process through the bank’s app.
The debit card, which works all around the world, is backed by digital payment major Visa. With just one click on his/her smartphone, a Vietnamese can open his/her debit card, and the customer doesn’t need to pay any fee during the onboarding process.
The ‘CIMB Visa Debit Card’ also comes with a ‘Spend Account’, which helps the user to perform transactional activities like money transfers, phone top-ups or bill payments on the CIMB Octo application.
Talking about eKYC, users just need to take a photo of both sides of their ID cards and take a selfie to open the payment cards. Till the time the physical card arrives at the user’s doorstep, he/she can use the virtual counterpart for transactional purposes. Also, the payment cards will help the user to control his/her budget as the individual will be able to only spend within the monetary limit loaded into the account linked to the card. Money withdrawals from Visa ATMs across Vietnam will come free of cost.
In 2021, ‘CIMB-FINHAY Visa Debit Card’ comes with a ‘3 in 1’ solution, where the customer can accumulate, invest and consume the money loaded into the card in just five minutes and enjoy benefits completely free of charge.
The ‘accumulate, invest and consume’ is basically about accumulating money without term/short term with attractive interest rates, withdrawing the cash anytime and still receiving interest, free withdrawal of accumulated money to the CIMB account and free deposit from the CIMB account to Finhay account in a snap. Free annual fee/lifetime management fee, free SMS balance notification service and no requirement of minimum balance are some of the other customer-friendly features of the CIMB’s payment cards.
Availing ‘CIMB-FINHAY Credit Card’ helps the customer to enjoy up to 45 interest-free shopping days, including a 30-day statement cycle and an additional 15-day billing period. When the payment is due, the user only needs to pay the minimum monthly amount within the specified time to continue using the card the following month and maintain a good credit history. The individual can also pay the full due amount to have an additional usage limit for upcoming spending needs.
Octo App By CIMB
Be it money transfers to other Vietnamese banks or depositing cash at Vietnam Post’s transaction points, CIMB’s Octo App users can seamlessly execute online banking with just a few clicks on their smartphones. The app also saves the transfer account information for the next transfer as well.
Also, using the app, one can manage his/her payment card activities like locking/unlocking cards, changing spending limit and generating new ATM PIN. Recharging phones through the Octo app will help the customer save 2% of the recharge card value at the same time. For paying utility bills, the app saves invoice information to help the user track and pay the next time around.
The users can log in to the app using biometrics like fingerprints and facial recognition, and there is an innovative feature called ‘OctoShield’, where a new authentication method with transaction signing will ensure top-notch cyber security for the money transaction-related details.
Also through the app, one can apply for a term savings deposit, where the customer will be provided with competitive interest rates on the market, corresponding to each deposit term (ranging from two weeks to 18 months).
Key Partnerships Driving CIMB Ahead
Talking about CIMB’s business growth, in 2022 alone, the Vietnamese bank’s customer base increased by 65% on a year-on-year/quarter-on-quarter basis, compared to a similar period in 2021 and by the year-end, the venture saw a 15% growth uptick further.
CIMB’s monthly active users ratio increased from 5% in the 2021-22 financial year to 16% in the first quarter of the 2022-23 period. Overall consumer spending increased from 1.452 billion/quarter to 3.255 billion/quarter, with a 41% rise in the total transaction volume during the 2022-23 financial year.
Furthermore, CIMB partnered with ZaloPay, which resulted in the stakeholders launching their first ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ financial product. Previously, CIMB also collaborated with Finhay Debit Card and Revi Credit Card, apart from launching its ‘E-Signature’, to support its eKYC CASA solution for the partner channels.
International Finance’s annual award shows celebrate the promising talents in the fields of business and finance, supporting the idea of ‘vision meets excellence’.
In CIMB’s case, we have a financial venture, whose vision and mission is to change the digital banking game forever. Through its personalized and cutting-edge customer-focused solutions, CIMB is successfully redefining the mobile banking game.
‘CIMB Model’ is what the 21st century banking industry needs, where business growth will go hand in hand with innovation, strategic partnerships and customer-focused product creation.