CIMB Bank Vietnam and Toss: Effective partnership model is key for a successful Bank — Fintech collaboration
Bank — Fintech is a desirable high-tech relationship in the finance & banking industry nowadays. The current pandemic is likely to drive deeper relationships between incumbent banks and startups for a digitally-empowered future. Banks and FinTech companies partnering up yields the best from both worlds — boosting the industry with new innovative services from a trusted institutional partner. With several new players entering the digital banking scene, the sector is set to witness unprecedented changes in the times to come.
A game-changer, disrupting the finance and banking industry
The world has changed dramatically over the last couple of months. Businesses will evolve and emerge from the COVID-19 crisis in different and profound ways. Vietnamese consumers, under the impact of the pandemic, have quickly moved towards digital platforms, especially using Fintech apps for daily needs such as paying bills, online shopping, transferring money, and managing their expenses.
Therefore, there is an increasing demand for “all-in-one” applications with seamless integration of many utilities into the same platform to assist people in their daily life. One app to rule all, one sign in and one user experience: super app platforms will provide any product or service that a customer may want or need.
FinTech companies have redefined the rules of the game for financial services. With a technology-forward mindset, FinTech companies offer services that are frictionless, cost-effective, accessible, and transparent. A typical example is Toss, operated by Viva Republica, a Korean financial platform fintech unicorn, had launched a special feature allowing Vietnamese users to receive rewards for every step of their daily activities (walking, running, etc.) and are beginning to operate at a much larger scale.
The way forward: From Disruption to Collaboration
As the first Fintech unicorn from Korea, Toss has been expanding their business areas from fintech service to traditional financial services including banking, securities, payment services, and in addition to the expansion, Toss is seeking Southeast Asia market starting from Vietnam. Toss launched the Step Counter app in Vietnam in September 2019 and has achieved 1 million users since then.
On the way to make Toss Step Counter become a truly financial super app, the collaboration between CIMB Bank Vietnam and Toss — “Toss Card powered by CIMB” has given birth to the country’s first-ever bank account that can be opened and maintained straight from the non-bank app!
With Toss Card powered by CIMB, young consumers can quickly open a bank card on Toss app instead of Octo by CIMB app, then immediately get rewards from simply joining walking challenges, playing games or daily top-ups for online shopping transactions.
EKYC — electronic customer identification — the technology managed by CIMB is behind this quick and seamless registration process. This advanced solution has been adapted for OctoFast card since April 2020 and received positive feedbacks on Octo by CIMB app. The success of CIMB’s development strategy has been recognized by Global Banking and Finance Review — the prestigious UK finance and banking magazine as the Best New Digital Bank Vietnam 2020.
Engaging the 2020 customers
Leading up to 2020, radically transformed Bank models will emerge. Consolidation in the industry is therefore, inevitable. “Digital footprint” will be the way forward for all banks. How well banks engage in coopetition with Fintech startups playing in emerging technologies will determine how they can differentiate in an increasingly crowded market that will likely see high customer churn.
CIMB Vietnam showcases a notable strategic direction in Vietnam as applying banking technology on a non-bank platform to create a comprehensive digital financial ecosystem. Through this partnership, CIMB and Toss being able to access established customer segments that are loyal to financial institutions, and lean on the bank’s experience of working in a highly regulated environment — leads to sustained growth and relevancy in a crowded, competitive ecosystem.
“Effective partnership requires people, business, and process maturity from both CIMB Vietnam and Toss. As a late-stage Fintech in the process of scaling up, Toss can drive productivity and value based on their last-mile expertise, data management know-how, and mobile-only mentality. CIMB can leverage their established reach, trust, and expertise to optimize products while remaining relevant to increasingly diverse customer needs.” — Ms. Le Hien Trang, Marketing & Partnership Director, CIMB Vietnam, said.
About Viva Republica (Toss)
Viva Republica delivers a full range of consumer finance services within its Toss mobile app launched in 2015, South Korea. From a P2P money transfer service that revolutionized the way people transfer money and created the P2P money transfer market, we now offer a full suite of personal financial platform services through our Toss app. Toss is one of the world’s fastest growing mobile P2P payment services and handles more than $4 billion in monthly transactions. We design services that are simple, logical and intuitive to use without compromising security. For more information, visit https://toss.im/en.
