At a ceremony to announce the 100 most valuable brands in Vietnam 2023 held early this week, Brand Finance - the world's leading brand valuation consultancy - addressed VPBank as one of the four organizations with the highest growth in brand value. 

VPBank’s brand, according to Brand Finance, is valued at $1.3 billion. In the past seven years, the bank’s brand value has increased by 23 times since it was valued for the first time by this organization at $56 million.

VPBank has jumped to 173rd among 500 banks in the world with the most valuable brand, 32 spots up from 2022. This is also the fourth consecutive year that VPBank’s position in this report has improved.

The bank’s Brand Rating was also rated AA+. Its Brand Strength Index, according to Brand Finance, was scored at 77.61. VPBank is considered one of the two fastest-growing banking brands in Vietnam.

“Brand value is improved due to the strong growth in brand strength. This impressive growth is the result of remarkable communication, brand identity repositioning and realigning activities from the mid-half of 2022, as well as financial projections,” said Alex Haigh, Managing Director in Asia Pacific of Brand Finance.

According to Haigh, it’s the synergy of the Vietnamese market’s potential and the bank’s recent M&A deals, along with the completed acquisitions of OPES Insurance and VPBank Securities that promotes the bank’s brand and enables it to serve all customers in the market.

“This is the due acknowledgement of all the bank’s effort in developing a comprehensive, diverse segment strategy focusing mainly on retail banking and SME, combining with a unique business model to bring prosperity values to customers and Vietnamese towards its ultimate goal: Prospering Vietnam,” said Ms. Pham Thi Nhung, VPBank DCEO.

Last year, credibility and brand strength lent themselves for VPBank to successfully mobilize more than $1 billion from global financial institutions, which helped diversify the funding for medium- and long-term loans and ensure liquidity ratios. Compared to the end of 2021, its customer deposits improved by nearly 30%. The consolidated capital adequacy rate (CAR) under Basel II reached nearly 15%, among the best in the market. The bank’s profit before tax increased by 48% year on year, exceeding $1 billion.

In the first half of 2023, VPBank attracted approximately 4 million new customers, raising the total customer base in its ecosystem to 28 million, equivalent to one third of Vietnam’s population. 

Moody’s also retained the bank’s credit rating of Ba3. As a result, the growth in brand power, inner strength and business prospect strengthened Japanese bank SMBC’s confidence to acquire 15% of VPBank stakes and become the bank’s strategic investor.

On the occasion of its 30th anniversary last week, VPBank’s leaders officially announced the target to put the bank among the top 100 biggest banks in Asia by 2026. The bank also announced its five new core values: Integrity, Aspiration, Discipline, Innovation, Efficiency & Effectiveness in a forward-looking move to achieve its goals.

PV