Forum «Vietnam Retail Banking Forum 2026»

   When more than 89% of Vietnamese aged 15 and over already hold a payment account, retail banking stops competing for sign-ups and starts competing on data, trust and fraud control. Once a year the industry sits down together in central Ho Chi Minh City for one dense day, from the opening ceremony to the industry awards in the evening, and if you work anywhere near this sector, it is the shortest route to hearing the regulator, the banks and the auditors argue in the same room.

   The forum has been held annually since 2012. The 2026 edition is organised by IDG Vietnam together with the Vietnam Banks Association (VNBA), the HCMC Institute for Development Studies (HIDS), the University of Economics and Law (UEL), the HCMC Departments of Science and Technology and of Industry and Trade, the HCMC Digital Transformation Center and the Vietnam Digital Communications Association (VDCA). That line-up is the point — this is a policy forum, not a vendor showcase.

   The programme published by the organisers looks like this:

• — Opening: welcome remarks from Assoc. Prof. Dr. Truong Minh Huy Vu (Trương Minh Huy Vũ), Director General of HIDS, the VNBA leadership and Dr. Phan Xuan Dung (Phan Xuân Dũng), Chairman of the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations.
• — Keynotes from 09:00: the HCMC Department of Science and Technology on technology for the city's financial-centre ambitions; Tran Anh Quy (Trần Anh Quý), Deputy Director of the State Bank of Vietnam's credit department for economic sectors, on balancing innovation with system security in open banking; the SBV Banking Strategy Institute on the regulatory sandbox for the future international financial centre; Vo Thi Trung Trinh (Võ Thị Trung Trinh), Director of the HCMC Digital Transformation Center, on an interconnected identity platform.
• — High-level panel moderated by Hoang Cong Gia Khanh (Hoàng Công Gia Khánh), Rector of UEL, with VnPay, the city's Department of Industry and Trade and bank representatives.
• — Session 1 (from 14:00), «Balancing Experience and Security: Managing Identity Fraud Risks in the Retail Banking Ecosystem»: Peter Rothwell (Partner, Head of Banking, KPMG UK), whose talk is given via video, and Kaushick Lahiri (Risk and Compliance, Citi Bank, UK) in person; the panel is moderated by Nguyen Quang Thuan (Nguyễn Quang Thuân) of FiinGroup, with IFC, MSB, Nam A Bank, Timo and UOB.
• — Session 2 (running at the same time, from 14:00), «Quantifying Retail Credit Risk in the Digital Age: From Alternative Data to Predictive Analytics Models»: Dr. Sailesh Tanna (University of Coventry) and Prof. Dr. Richard B. Nyuur (University of Bradford), with HDBank, LPBank, TPBank and the World Bank on the panel.
• — The final round of the Attacker 2026 fintech competition for university students (14:00–16:30), hosted with UEL.
• — The Vietnam Outstanding Banking Awards 2026 ceremony (from 17:00) closes the day: the awards' voting council speaks at 17:30 and the winners are announced at 18:00.

   Be warned that both thematic sessions and the Attacker final open at 14:00 and run simultaneously, so you have to choose your room in advance.

   Alongside the conference runs the Retail Banking Exhibition 2026, with AI, next-generation security, digital transformation platforms, big data, process automation and customer analytics on display. The organisers frame it as networking space as much as a showroom, open to companies, experts, lecturers and students.

   The audience is bank and financial-institution leadership, product, data and risk teams, fintech and IT vendors, regulators, academics and finance students. The timing is not accidental: the State Bank of Vietnam reports more than 15 billion cashless transactions in the first half of 2026, up 34.2% year on year, and over 95% of transactions running through digital channels at many credit institutions — which is exactly what the two afternoon sessions are about.

   The scale is easiest to read from last year: the 2025 edition drew close to 500 delegates into the room, along with 51 speakers, 22 banks, more than 300 IT and information-security organisations and 30 sponsors and partners, and its agenda ran on risk management in the digital era, the link between banks and fintech on the way to a financial centre, data analytics and training talent together with the universities.

   The awards themselves are older than the forum: IDG has run the Vietnam Outstanding Banking Awards since 2004, honouring banking products and services with standout results. The shortlist rests on open voting: over the summer the organisers published five public surveys — retail banking, digital banking, fintech services, green credit and banking for small and medium businesses — and call every answer a vote for the best.

   The registration form asks for your company and your job title, so expect a room of practitioners rather than a general audience. Questions about participation go to the organisers' general address, [email protected].

   You can read the sector's direction in a summary next month — or spend the day in the room where it is spelled out.