The figure ispart of the 2021 digital banking survey conducted by the SiliconValley-based analytics company FICO.
“The pandemicis driving a digital-first mindset in Vietnam with 63 percent of consumers morelikely to open an account digitally than a year ago,” said Aashish Sharma,senior director of decision management solutions for FICO in Asia Pacific.
“The number ofconsumers who prefer to open bank accounts digitally has grown to 42 percentand continues to rise, which is significant in a country with a strong branchculture,” said Sharma.
The surveyrevealed that consumer patience with account applications varied according toproduct. Vietnamese consumers had the highest expectations for completingapplications in 10 questions or less, for savings accounts (53 percent),transaction accounts (51 percent) and Buy Now Pay Later products (47 percent).
Interestinglythis expectation was significantly higher than other countries in the survey.For instance, just 41 percent of UK consumers and 51 percent of Australianconsumers expected to answer 10 questions or less when opening a transactionaccount.
OverallVietnamese consumers want digital experiences that reduce friction andinconvenience. They expect their main bank to know them, 70 percent want toprove their identity online and 25 percent of Vietnamese consumers say thatfinancial institutions ask too many questions.
The surveyalso showed that increased friction and security is deemed appropriate byconsumers when it comes to applying and onboarding for specific high-valuefinancial products.
Despiterelatively high levels of ease and confidence in applying for day-to-day onlinefinancial products such as current accounts, savings, loans and credit cards,more than half (61 percent) of customers polled expect greater rigour when itcomes to mortgage applications.
Researchshowed that just 31 percent of Vietnamese consumers would apply for a mortgagedigitally, compared to the survey average of around one in three (34 percent).In all countries bar the USA and UK, in-branch openings are preferred to onlinemethods. South Africa was a modest outlier with 43 percent of customersfavouring online mortgage applications.
More than onein two Vietnamese respondents polled (56 percent) said they were willing toanswer 11 to 20 or more questions when it came to applying online for amortgage.
Vietnameseconsumers who open an account digitally prefer to carry out the processentirely in their chosen channel, whether it is a smartphone or a website. Ifcustomers are asked to move out of the channel to prove their identities, manyof them will abandon the application, either giving up on opening an accountcompletely or by going to a competitor. Of those who don’t immediately abandon,up to an additional 20 percent will delay the process.
This surveywas conducted in January 2021 by an independent research company adhering toresearch industry standards. 1,000 Vietnamese adults were surveyed, along with13,000 consumers in the USA, the UK, Canada, South Africa, Australia, NewZealand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Brazil, Colombia andMexico./.