Changes to brand identity have been seen more often in Vietnam’s banking industry than in other industries over the last five years. 

Local banks have paid greater attention to spending on building and promoting their image in order to engage consumers. 

Maritime Bank, in mid-January, announced its second rebranding effort in its 28 years in business, adopting a new logo and new name, MSB. 

“Industry 4.0 is bringing a wealth of opportunities and changes in life, including in b

“Though this is a very specific industry and has special standards, we cannot stand still and must renew ourselves to adapt to new developments in society.”

New strategy, new image

Over the course of nearly three decades in business, MSB has witnessed many stages of economic development in Vietnam and made many changes to adapt to the macroeconomic environment and evolving customer demand. 

Though each change is different, all have a common goal: to better meet the needs of customers and adapt to development trends. 

This latest rebranding is part of MSB’s long-term strategy. “2019 was decided upon as an appropriate time for MSB to comprehensively change from inside to outside, with the aim of becoming a friendly, trustworthy, customer-aware bank with high profitability,” Mr. Quang explained. 

While the name change is easy to remember and read, the new logo inherits facets of the old logo but is designed in a modern and dynamic style, demonstrating its commitment to trying to change to do better every day. 

The bank will also focus on a customer-oriented strategy inside its operations, which will be materialized through a new experience model with four pillars: simple - active - connecting - understanding. 

In the short term, the most obvious change for customers will be continuous improvements to existing products and services. 

The bank will also launch new quality products and better meet customer needs in each segment. 

It will shorten its procedural processes to make them more effective, with an attentive, dedicated, and professional service attitude. 

“The four pillars will be the guidelines in everything we do, so that customers choosing MSB will not want to leave,” Mr. Quang said.

Banking services have become quite similar and very competitive, making differentiation difficult. To stand out from the pack, MSB chose a strategy of increasing the customer experience. 

This commitment is kept at every stage customers come into contact with the bank as the key to a long-term, sustainable relationship. 

It set a goal of becoming the most reliable, understandable and profitable bank in Vietnam by 2023, with market capitalization estimated at $3.5 billion and annual net revenue growth at 30 per cent. 

Benefits come

While MSB is the latest to undertake the process of renewing its brand strategy, other banks have seen that changes made in the past have paid off. 

After posting ineffective business results, TPBank implemented a restructuring process and changed its brand identity over five years, for it to become the leading digital bank in Vietnam. 

With effort and the right strategy, the bank had made up accumulated losses of more than VND1.6 trillion ($68.9 million) by June 2015, just three years after implementing its restructuring, and now earns a profit. 

Pre-tax profit was more than VND2.2 trillion ($94.8 million) last year, nearly double 2017’s figure and nearly quadruple 2015’s. 

One of its major achievements is applying technology to create a better experience for customers, according to Mr. Lai Tien Manh, Managing Director of Mibrand, a brand consulting firm and local representative of Brand Finance in Vietnam. 

The well-known product associated with TPBank is the 24/7 automated banking model TPBank LiveBank. 

As well as being able to perform almost all transactions at a traditional branch, the bank recently began issuing ATM cards via LiveBank, which takes just five minutes. After nearly a year and half, there are over 80 LiveBanks nationwide and nearly 740,000 transactions have been conducted for some 243,000 customers. 

Other banks have sought to become more competitive by investing in brand experience and customer care services, Mr. Manh said. 

Vietcombank and TPBank are the pioneers in creating the most convenient experience for customers at their transaction space, by optimizing the service process at branches and transaction offices. 

Meanwhile, private banks such as ACB and VIB have focused more on the service attitude of employees to make a clear difference in the minds of customers. 

With its strategy, he said, ACB recorded nearly VND6.4 trillion ($275.8 million) in pre-tax profit in 2018, compared to VND1.3 trillion ($56 million) when it rebranded three years ago. 

ACB also plans to launch an app on the mobile platform and conduct research and development of fintech products and others in the 2019-2024 period.

Abreast of trends

Banking is one of Vietnam’s leading high-growth industries and also one of the most competitive business environments in the world, local insiders say. 

Banks find every opportunity to compete, including strengthening networks, applying more technology, developing products. and strengthening customer service. Building and promoting their brand is always an area of attention and investment.

In their development strategies, in addition to continually introducing new attractive products to win over customers, banks must also pay due regard to improving services and strengthening customer care to make customers feel more satisfied. 

But the most important thing, according to Mr. Manh, is investing in building and promoting their brand image. Such investment now includes advertising and image revitalization through upgrading the transaction space and customer care policies. 

“More local banks have approved larger budgets for branding communication activities to build a better image,” he said. “But not all banks are interested in pursuing a professional and methodical branding method.” 

Industry 4.0 is also very much on the minds of banks in Vietnam. Technology has completely changed the development of communication, sales, and marketing strategies, according to Dr. Le Minh Ha from Saigon University. 

Thus, every business needs to change its mindset to adapt to new trends. 

“To build a long-term brand strategy, local banks need to make assessments, even weekly, to adjust their brand strategy,” Mr. Manh underlined. “Techcombank is now the only brand to consider Industry 4.0 in its branding strategy.”

VN Economic Times