Established in 1994, Vietnam-based Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank’s (MB Bank) aim is to provide intelligent banking solutions and be a trustworthy name, when it comes to sustainable banking.
The venture won the honours of being the “Best Mobile Banking Application – Vietnam 2023” and “Best ESG Bank – Vietnam 2023” in the recently concluded International Finance Awards.
MB Bank, since 2020, has been investing strongly in the technology front, apart from enhancing the overall innovation and creating more value for the customer services, while contributing soundly to the society’s sustenance.
A sound ESG presence
MB Bank wants to become a leading digital financial venture and lead Vietnam’s economic transformation from the front, apart from emerging as one of the top three Asian enterprises in terms of business efficiency.
VND is now eyeing the ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) route to shore up its business prospects further, as it is providing its customers and business partners with tailor-made green financial solutions.
Let’s talk about ‘MB Smartbank’, which bridges the bank’s financial strategy and innovative IT solution, with the advantage of three “no”: No wasting time; no halt in service; and no need for cards or IDs.
Using the digital solution’s self-service model, customers can actively transact 24/7, while helping to reduce emissions from paperwork, as well as reducing time and emissions while going to the branch. They can also track their transaction activities on the “APP MBBank”.
“Covering Vietnam Green with MB” encourages people to plant trees by exchanging MB star points on the “APP MBBank”. The program has attracted over 100,000 customers and achieved the record of “the community campaign attracts the largest supporters” with nearly 1 million votes.
It has also invested some 44,148 billion dong as loan capital for eco-friendly projects. Compared to 2021, the scale of loan capital for eco-friendly projects has increased by 7% in 2023.
MB Bank’s Charity App – Thiennguyen App has become the first technology platform in Vietnam to support charity activities.
In 2022, the “Thiennguyen” APP achieved over 7 million new customers. These individuals, along with a collective of partners and experts, are now supporting 700 fundraising organisations and individuals, apart from holding community campaigns. In total, MB Bank has contributed 233 billion VND to 84 social security initiatives in Vietnam.
“The solution is towards the vision of becoming the first Vietnamese Volunteer Social Network,” the venture added.
Thiennguyen App started with over 1 million users and will be the backbone for other humanitarian platforms in Vietnam.
An unparallel mobile banking experience
Just like its ESG activities, MB Bank’s growing digital presence is also gaining traction in Vietnam. In terms of downloads in the Vietnamese App Store, the revamped “APP MBBank” has been consistently taking the top spot.
MB Bank has continued to upgrade its app, with automated features like 24/7 money transfers 24/7, mobile cash withdrawal, and online invitation/online give via the app.
The app also consolidates all of the MB group’s data into a single, combined digital warehouse that gives customers a summary of investment holdings as well as total assets and liabilities.
The app has also included the most recent security solutions like Biometric Authentication, Digital OTP and E-signatures in transactions.
“APP MBBank” has integrated 34 mini apps and 129 new features, providing financial and non-financial products. It also takes care of functions like international money transfer, remittance services, foreign currency purchases, cross-border digital money transactions etc.
Talking about “BIZ MBBank”, the SME industry-friendly digital app has turned MB into a versatile digital financial backer for small enterprises. The app has now close to 66,000 business accounts from Vietnamese industries.
MB Bank has also become the first Vietnamese bank to launch “VietQR” (which made its debut in 2021), a cashless solution for businesses. MB Bank, along with Google and Apple, brought one of the advanced payment security solutions in the market, where the customers do not need to carry a physical MB payment card, while using the wallet applications, as the card is already integrated into the application.
The road ahead
The venture’s focus will be on creating new digital business models and boosting company productivity on digital channels by enlarging the utility ecosystem to better serve a wide range of customers.
Until 2022, MB Bank had almost 20 million customers, out of which, 14 million were on board from 2020-22, as the venture’s digitalization efforts peaked. The goal for 2023 is to reach 27 million customers.
“The proportion of transactions made through digital channels remains high, reaching 95%. The number of transactions on digital channels has reached 1.5 billion. Transaction turnover has doubled compared to 2021, reaching 515 billion dollars. MB does not want to define itself as a financial institution but aspires to become a technology company providing sustainable financial services for the community,” MB Bank concluded.