Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development - Agribank

Using cash with bank card services, the first thing to note is that commercial banks have focused on and issued domestic cards. Among them, by November 2012, the Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (VCB) ranked first with 1,500,000 cards, accounting for 51% of the market share. Next are the Agricultural Bank (Agribank) and the Dong A Commercial Joint Stock Bank (EAB) with more than 800,000 cards, the Vietnam Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank) with 750,000 cards, and the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV). Currently, in the market, banks mainly issue debit cards (accounting for 98.4%), showing that this type of card is growing very strongly and is an indispensable factor in the current Vietnamese market.

Table 2.15: Market share of bank cards in Vietnam

VCB

BIDV	AGRIBANK	SEABANK	VIETINBANK	Other
51%	8 %	10%	3%	7 %	13%

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VCB BIDV

AGRIBANK SEABANK

VIETINBANK

Other

Analysis of main competitors in the market:

1. Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam - Vietcombank

Strengths:

This is the leading bank in the field of card investment and development in Vietnam. VCB Bank has the advantage of strong technology, a wide network, branches and transaction offices spread across Vietnam. In addition, with the advantage of a state-owned commercial bank with large capital, VCB Bank always has easy access to individuals and state-owned enterprises to open salary cards. Therefore, the number of cards issued by VCB always accounts for the market share.

dominate the market. Card quality and transactions at VCB are relatively good based on modern technology platform.

Weaknesses:

Due to the relatively large number of branches and transaction offices, the apparatus for banks to operate the card system is relatively cumbersome, leading to income from the card segment not being large enough for banks to invest in further breakthroughs.

2. Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development - Agribank

Strengths:

This is a long-standing bank in the block of State Bank with a brand and reputation that has been affirmed. It is trusted by many women, especially in rural areas. This is also the bank with the largest network of branches and transaction offices in Vietnam (can reach the districts), State Bank attracts users by the convenience of the network, the great advantage of depositing and receiving money very conveniently.

Weaknesses:

NN Bank has never had a strong position in technology and processes. With its extensive network, ensuring the safety of the card receiving and returning system is also a headache for bank managers. The attitude of transaction staff who do not respect customers greatly affects the bank's image. The bank has not invested properly in card development.

3. Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank - ACB

Strengths:

Compared to the commercial joint stock bank block, ACB is a big brand in terms of reputation and process. ACB's product and customer care processes are very good. Therefore, the bank receives a lot of sympathy and support from customers. ACB Bank also has a relatively good network and is a bank that invests heavily in card technology with diverse products and many options for customers.

Weaknesses:

The fraud cases and arrest of senior bank executives are also

greatly affects the image and reputation of the bank. In addition, with fluctuations

large scale as well as losses due to fraud with large amounts of money affecting the bank's strategy and resources for card services.

4. Southeast Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank - SeABank

Strengths:

Having a strategic partner, the world's leading financial group - Societe General, supported by a strategic partner in transferring banking technology. Having a differentiation strategy focusing on niche markets, avoiding direct confrontation with the State Bank. For example, since September 2013, domestic debit cards S24+ and S24++ issued by Southeast Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank - SeABank can make international transactions at ATM systems of banks abroad. This will bring more convenience to customers owning SeABank's S24+ and S24++ cards when traveling and working abroad in Korea, Thailand and the Russian Federation. This is the first time a domestic debit card of Vietnam can make payments abroad.

Weaknesses:

The bank's brand is not good, especially in the Southern region. Investment in branches and transaction offices is not consistent. The bank's transaction network is still limited. The difficulties of the economy have prevented the bank from continuing to invest in card projects.

Client

Customers are one of the important factors that determine SeABank's business activities. Most customers using SeABank's payment services are usually agencies and departments in the city, small and medium enterprises and partners with long-term relationships, along with a significant number of residents. There are still some neglected customer groups such as students of colleges, vocational schools, and even high school students that SeABank has not fully exploited. These are young customers who like to explore new things and need to be influenced by many marketing activities. In addition, small traders, grocery store owners, restaurant - hotel owners, entertainment clubs, ... and many other types of businesses are the subjects that when developing services, SeABank should also have appropriate customer and marketing policies.

Due to the fact that people's habit of preferring to use cash in payment and transactions is still popular, the provision of non-cash payment services in general and bank card services in particular still faces quite a big obstacle in terms of customer psychology.

Because competition in the Vietnamese card market is currently still often based on price and cost, new banks entering the market, entering the market later like SeABank often have difficulty in approaching customers. Many banks apply a free mechanism, even giving extra money when issuing cards like EAB, causing difficulties for other banks including SeABank. At the same time, competing mainly on price and fees - very "rudimentary" competitive tools - also causes difficulties in improving the quality of services and utilities of payment cards of all banks.

Price competition in card payment activities by lowering POS payment discount rates of some banks affects the overall card business efficiency. That makes banks' revenue from card business activities decrease.

Due to entering the market quite late, SeABank's card products face difficulties compared to cards that already have a reputation and position in the market such as VCB, ACB... This also causes great difficulties for SeABank's card business.

2.4.3. SWOT analysis - SeABank's position in the market

a. Opportunity

The card market in Vietnam has, is and will continue to bring great opportunities and potentials, demonstrated in the following aspects:

- Through the State's legal policies, the propaganda, promotion and training policies of banks have brought card products closer to people's lives and raised awareness of the features and benefits of card products, thereby increasing the number of card users.

- The world economic integration is increasing, the development of e-commerce is an inevitable trend. Currently, the rate of e-commerce transactions is gradually increasing over the years and it will be the method of the future. This development

also creates opportunities for the card market to grow because e-commerce is based on card payments.

- The trend of "joining hands" between card switching networks to build a unified card alliance has created convenience for card users and banks to take advantage of the networks of other banks in the alliance, reducing costs and waste.

- Hanoi City has an important position in the national urban development strategy, is an industrial, commercial and tourist center with sufficient conditions for banking services to develop strongly. In addition, a system of restaurants, supermarkets and entertainment areas has sprung up to meet the daily needs of the people and is also a market for installing card acceptance machines.

- The Government's project on non-cash payment for the period 2006-2010 and orientation to 2020 creates favorable conditions and opportunities for the Branch to deploy card services.

- Card technology is developing rapidly, so the card products and services deployed are increasingly rich and diverse. In addition, the telecommunications infrastructure in Vietnam is developing very quickly, creating the basis for the application of new banking technology.

- Integration and opening up the economy in many fields, including banking and finance, has also opened up many great opportunities: the opportunity to access modern card services in the world, transfer more modern technology, learn business experience, create a dynamic competitive environment, and is an opportunity for SeABank to improve itself and affirm its position in Hanoi.

b. Challenge

The card market in Vietnam has many opportunities on the one hand, but also many challenges on the other, requiring banks to make continuous efforts with appropriate strategies and tactics to dominate the market. These challenges are:

- The habit of spending cash is still quite popular among the population. Even when customers use cards, cash withdrawals still account for the majority. It can be said that this is the biggest obstacle to the development of cards.

- The number of banks participating in the card market is increasing. In addition, foreign banks in the area with financial, technological and management strengths are gradually expanding their operations in the card sector. The participation of these banks makes the competition in the card market increasingly fierce.

- In addition, other banks in Hanoi are still implementing a competitive strategy based on price. Banks are constantly launching incentive programs, issuing free cards, accepting losses to gain market share. This not only damages profits but also damages the connection between banks and customers.

- Difficulty in developing card products due to the similar and easily imitated nature of the products. Currently, card products are increasingly diversified in services, with rich added utilities. To have a card product that stands out from other products, banks must have a unique and bold marketing and product strategy.

- Customers have low loyalty to banks because they have many choices, they will tend to approach many banks and choose products and services with better quality, more competitive prices, and better service attitude.

- Limitations in infrastructure network: The network of transaction points, ATM/POS machines is still concentrated and clustered, only built in shopping centers, luxury hotels... while private stores and shops still do not have machines installed here. And sometimes even if there are machines installed, the efficiency of use is very low.

Analyzing and evaluating market opportunities and challenges is an important task that helps managers understand market factors, know how to take advantage of opportunities, limit challenges, and have an objective view of future business strategy decisions.

c. Strengths

- SeABank's customer policy is quite comprehensive. Each product has a specific target market segment to aim at, the overlapping customer segments can cover the entire market, meet all needs, and serve each specific target. This shows that the bank pays great attention to market research.

- Products are regularly researched, improved and upgraded to keep up with the development of domestic and international markets and the pioneering in improving and applying new banking technology, which is considered an advantage of the leading bank in this new market segment. SeABank's card products when launched on the market are all carefully researched with the desire to design a product with outstanding features or different from other card products on the market.

- The staff from the research, technical, to the card business stage are all recruited from people with professional qualifications and are well-trained in professional skills, which better meet the job requirements. This is a decisive factor for the quality of marketing activities in developing card services in the near future.

- Card operations right from the formation stage of the bank have applied the most modern advanced software technologies, typically SeABank has applied card technology according to the synchronous EMV standard for international card issuance and payment with the desire to have safe, multi-utility card products, meeting the increasing needs of the market.

- SeABank is a pioneer in providing modern banking services to serve all transaction needs and ensure customer benefits such as Internet banking, Mobile banking, SMS banking, Call Center, Autobank, ATM cards and is the first bank to successfully deploy synchronous Autobank services - multi-service Autobank to serve maximum customer benefits.

- The process and paperwork are also simplified by the bank, creating convenience and speed for customers to easily use the card. Customer care is also taken care of through the CallCenter customer care department, always ready to answer all customer questions at any time.

d. Weaknesses

- The card marketing plan at SeABank is only short-term (within the annual plan) without a longer-term, more comprehensive and general strategic calculation. This is one of the reasons that limits the bank's card business results.

- The cost of marketing activities is not yet commensurate with the investment and development of card services. In recent years, SeABank has made large investments in developing card technology such as card management software, equipment, ATM/POS purchases, but the investment in marketing and advertising activities is not commensurate, it is only a single activity, carried out separately, fragmented into scattered programs throughout the year, there is no budget for the whole year from strategic surveys to advertising, events... This makes it difficult to evaluate the cost effectiveness of marketing activities, and as a result, approving investment for this activity is difficult and still limited in both human and material resources.

- SeABank has only focused on developing debit cards and has not really focused on the credit card segment, while the Vietnamese credit card market is currently considered a "fertile land" that banks in the city are actively deploying to attract customers, especially foreign banks such as HSBC, ANZ, ... and the growth rate of the credit card segment in the future is very large. In addition, products that have been released for a long time have not had a strong reputation and have not left a deep impression on the people.

- SeABank's service fees are not more attractive than other banks. That is also an obstacle when customers choose SeABank's card products and services or not.

- Because it entered the card market later than other banks, SeABank has to suffer the disadvantages of a bank following the market. Difficulty in finding market share, difficulty in creating outstanding products that leave an impression on customers, overwhelming competition from large banks with reputations...

- The level of brand recognition and card products among the people is still low. This is partly because the bank has just changed its logo image, which can cause confusion among customers. Partly because the bank does not have a strong communication strategy to make a deep impression on the people. That is also why the bank has not yet created a high reputation.

- Sales channels are not diversified, mainly through traditional channels such as branches but are not effective. At the branches, there are no attractive card sales campaigns such as going to university gates to sell cards aimed at customers.

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