State Bank of Vietnam flags acute IT skills shortages as banks shift to smart digital ecosystems

At a banking workforce forum in Hanoi, State Bank of Vietnam Deputy Governor Pham Tien Dung described how rapid digitalisation is reshaping bank operating models and staffing, with many customer-facing and manual document-processing roles displaced as services move to automated and digital channels. He framed the next phase as the move toward “smart” digital ecosystems where banking applications integrate with services in other sectors, requiring banks to redesign processes and roles around technology-enabled delivery. Supporting indicators highlighted at the event included average daily throughput of VND 820 trillion in the interbank electronic payment system and 26 million transactions a day in the financial switching and electronic clearing system. The State Bank of Vietnam put adult bank account ownership at nearly 87% and reported that the value of cashless payments is about 25 times GDP; in the first five months of 2025, QR-code transactions rose 78.09% by volume and 216.24% by value. Speakers also pointed to emerging operational and risk implications from virtual assets, smart contracts and wider e-signature use, and noted that some banks are treating information technology risk similarly to credit risk, elevating cyber and information security. On talent, Pham said demand for staff with information technology capabilities has become particularly acute as AI, big data, blockchain, cloud and robotic process automation change workflows; participants emphasised training and retraining, with the Banking Academy citing a mandatory “digital competency” learning outcome for all students and calling for a banking-sector digital competency framework and deeper cooperation among the central bank, academia and technology and financial firms.