Vietnamese banks continue to ascend global brand rankings

Nine Vietnamese lenders, five of them state-owned, have risen up the list of the world’s 500 most valuable banking brands.

State-owned Agribank, one of the ‘Big 4’ state-owned lenders, jumped 17 places to 173th in the annual ranking put out by U.K. consultancy Brand Finance.

Fellow state-owned lenders Vietcombank and VietinBank rose 27 and 61 spots to 180th and 216th.

BIDV was at 246th and MB at 374th, up 30 and 12 spots.

Of the private lenders, VP Bank rose 37 places to 243rd and the country’s private player, Techcombank, jumped 57 spots to 270th.

Sacombank and ACB rose 30 and 23 places to 392nd and 397th.

The report said VietinBank was one of 10 fastest-growing banks globally last year.

“Vietnam’s banking sector has seen the greatest year-on-year brand value growth of any nation in the rankings with 23 percent,” the consultancy said.

“Vietnam’s ability to effectively control and constrain Covid-19 has allowed it to buck the sector-wide trend of declining brand value.

“Internal reforms have strengthened accountability in the Vietnamese financial sector, which has had the knock-on effect of boosting not just revenues, but brand reputation and trust.”

Vietnam’s banking sector has recorded cumulative brand value growth of 753 percent in the last five years, the second-highest rate in the rankings.

“Since the Vietnamese government introduced its strategy to boost accountability and the strength of the banking sector, including more stringent capital requirements and greater transparency, customer perception has improved,” Brand Finance said.

China’s ICBC was the world’s top bank brand.

Chinese banks maintained their dominance in the rankings, accounting for 33 percent of total brand value and seven of the 10 top climbers.