On 22 October, the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) was awarded the titles “Best Cash Management Bank in Vietnam” and “Best Transaction Bank in Vietnam” for 2020.

The awards, belonging to The Asian Banker Transaction Finance Awards 2020 are held annually to evaluate the achievements of financial institutions in cash management, payments, and trade finance across Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.

This year, the awards are specifically aimed at evaluating the performance and response of senior industry practitioners and the banks that they lead during the Covid-19 pandemic. Important benchmarks were considered during the assessment including the level of digitalisation of institutions’ operations and processes; risk management capabilities, especially credit and liquidity risk management; how they deploy funds in a manner relevant to society; and finally how they create social capital, the means by which business justifies value through contributions to communities.

The awards stated above are assessed based on a survey of international banks and selected corporates in each of the different countries in the region on the transaction banks they work with in the country, corroborated by interviews. The winners must meet specific criteria in terms of changes in market share of the different competitors in the respective markets or key business lines; the contribution of the business to total income; the ability to describe the benefits of processing efficiencies and cost management that are passed on to their clients.

According to The Asian Banker, BIDV’s cash management business registered a significant uptick in the volume and value of transactions with its estimated domestic market share for cash management reaching 40 percent in 2019. Revenue from cash management increased 36 percent to around USD32 million, with more than 1000 transaction points nationwide. BIDV’s offerings have been geared toward internet banking in Vietnam’s otherwise heavy cash and paper dependent economy.

Holistic cash management solutions including collections, payments and accounting management for customers, was reflected in the mandate implemented by many large corporates and groups in Vietnam such as Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV), Masan Group, Vingroup and Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT). Multi-channel disbursement and collection/ bill payment with 24/7 support and Virtual Accounts solutions to support the management of receipts for funds for large corporates were rolled out. Therefore, The Asian Banker recommended BIDV as Best Cash Management and Transaction Bank in Vietnam.

Receiving awards from prestigious financial magazines such as The Asian Banker has affirmed the service quality of BIDV as well as the bank’s commitment to always bring products and services of the best quality to customers.

BIDV owns a nationwide payment channel system with a network of more than 1,000 branches and transaction offices and commercial presence in six countries and territories. The bank has also established partnerships with 2,300 global financial institutions, establishing the foundation to support customers in conducting business and payment operations globally.

In addition, digital transformation to bring technological facilities to institutional customers has also been the focus of BIDV's development. BIDV is one of the first banks to offer Virtual Account products to the market, is one of the four banks participating in the implementation of the ACH payment system project with Napas and is the fastest deployment bank. BIDV has connected the corporate customers’ accounting system with the BIDV iBank electronic banking system - BIDV iBank. Recently, BIDV has also become the first Vietnamese bank to successfully apply blockchain technology in trade finance transactions.

In recent years, with the high appreciation of international organisations and magazines, BIDV has continuously been honoured in many categories and awards. These include, The World's 2,000 largest public companies 2020 - Global 2000 (announced by Forbes), 500 most valuable banking brands in the world in 2020 (announced by Brand Finance), and Vietnam Domestic Foreign Exchange Bank of the Year in 2020 (awarded by Asian Banking & Finance). In 2018, BIDV was awarded the “Best Transaction Bank in Vietnam” and “Best Payment Bank in Vietnam” by The Asian Banker.