TPP and the challenges for the banking industry.

(Baonghean) - Although this opens up many opportunities and facilitates businesses' access to foreign capital flows from the region, we will also face many challenges because the banking system still has certain limitations.

To date, Nghe An province has 11 state-owned commercial banks, 21 joint-stock commercial banks, 55 credit institutions, and 2 policy banks. Over the past period, access to banking services in Nghe An has improved. Banks and credit institutions in the province have increased investment in installing additional infrastructure to expand ATM networks and improve service quality to better serve the cashless payment needs of the people.

POS payment services have also received investment. Currently, nearly 1,000 POS terminals are installed at businesses selling goods and services, accepting card payments from various banks in the area. Many banks have applied technology to their service operations, introducing features that understand customer needs to provide increasingly better service.

Transactions at Agribank branch in Nghe An.

However, access to banking services in the area is generally low, the distribution of branches and transaction offices is uneven; risk management at banks still has shortcomings... Meanwhile, the products and services of banks are still monotonous, their convenience is not high, and banking technology is still outdated compared to the world. These are the shortcomings of the current banking system, especially as we join the TPP with the trend of internationalizing the banking system.

Joining the TPP – the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement – ​​will gradually eliminate market access requirements for the financial services and banking sector. The TPP, once signed, will align with the global trend of financial liberalization, facilitating the flow of indirect investment capital between countries. Paying attention to the TPP process is crucial for the financial and banking sector, as it presents a significant opportunity for the banking system to achieve breakthrough development, provided each bank prepares a well-thought-out and appropriate business strategy.

In fact, the banking system has undergone reforms to meet integration requirements, not just now, but since Vietnam joined the WTO. Joining the TPP, with its deeper commitments and higher demands, requires banks to improve their competitiveness in terms of capital, asset management, liquidity, and management resources, in order to offer increasingly better products and services. In the coming period, it is necessary to effectively implement the roadmap for restructuring the financial system, focusing on commercial banks, to improve service quality, business efficiency, and ensure the safety of the entire system, and to implement appropriate solutions for weak banks...

Viet Phuong