With the explosion of information technology as well as the strong development of global electronic services, modern banking products and services on mobile phones are expected to become the mainstream trend in the coming years.

Illustration photo, source from the Internet

Banks are currently facing pressure in the competition to attract customers as well as meet the increasing demands of users. According to the 2015 Annual Report on World Retail Banking by Capgemini and Efma, customer satisfaction with banking services is on a downward trend, especially among young customers who have high demands and expectations for banking services.

At the Vietnam Retail Banking Forum 2015, held in Ho Chi Minh City on November 18, Mr. Huynh Song Hao, Director of Retail, Bank for Foreign Trade - Vietcombank, said that, with the explosion of information technology as well as the strong development of global electronic services, modern banking products and services such as Mobile Banking are also on the path of rapid development and are expected to become the mainstream trend in the coming years.

Vietcombank leaders said that mobile payments are very popular in developed countries in North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific countries. "It is predicted that in 2017, the value of mobile payments in the world will skyrocket, exceeding 1,000 billion USD and almost equal to card payments," he said. Mr. Hao said that currently, of Vietnam's population of more than 92 million people, 55% use smartphones, of which they use the internet an average of 2 hours per day and online shopping accounts for 55%. In addition, the strong growth rate of the payment card market clearly reflects the trend of non-cash consumption that is becoming more and more popular in Vietnam. These premises are consistent with the development trend of mobile payment services.

In Vietnam, according to Mr. Hao, e-commerce is growing very fast and strongly, from 2 billion USD in 2013, it increased to 2.97 billion USD in 2014 and is expected to reach 4.13 billion this year. With that trend, people have started to get familiar with many different forms of e-commerce instead of just using online sales websites. In particular, mobile applications in 2014 have increased rapidly compared to the previous year.

Nielsen's report also stated that mobile banking will become a new trend in the coming years. As of 2014, more than 30 banks have participated in this market compared to 19 units in 2012. Vietnamese users are gradually realizing and appreciating the efforts of banks in developing information technology systems with 87% of positive feedback received for mobile banking services and nearly 60% for electronic banking services (according to Younet Media's Social Media Listening report on the Vietnamese banking industry in the first half of 2015).

However, experts currently admit that there are still many obstacles to electronic payments as well as payments via phone. Because the acceptance of electronic payment invoices is still at the pilot level; there is a lack of financial and tax incentives, not to mention the habit of using cash is still large and some others are concerned about safety and security.

According to VN Express