Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OCB) is positioning itself as a digital and sustainability-focused challenger in Vietnam’s competitive mid-tier banking segment. Under the leadership of chief information officer (CIO) Luong Tuan Thanh, who joined in late 2023, the bank is advancing a modular and data-driven transformation strategy to differentiate from legacy incumbents and fast-growing fintechs alike. Drawing from a cross-sectoral background in capital markets, e-commerce, and fintech—having served in senior roles at Techcom Securities, CMC Corporation, and Tiki360—Thanh is steering OCB’s technology evolution towards customer lifetime value, digital ecosystem integration, and sustainable finance outcomes. Three strategic pillars: Customer, ecosystem, sustainability Thanh outlined three strategic pillars guiding OCB’s transformation. “The first is our customer,” he said. “We design solutions starting from customer needs, working backwards to determine the right products for each segment.” Recognising that customer expectations are increasingly shaped by e-commerce and social platforms, the bank’s digital offerings are built with a strong behavioural and lifestyle orientation. The second pillar is ecosystem integration. OCB’s early adoption of open banking—initiated five years ago—has led to over 150 active application programming interface (API) integrations with partners across fast-moving consumer goods, retail, and real estate sectors. “A broad partner ecosystem helps us better understand customer needs and co-create new services,” Thanh said. The third pillar is sustainability, encompassing financial resilience, green lending, and support for underserved segments like small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). “We aim to be sustainable in our own financial operations, risk management, and also in extending green finance solutions to others,” he noted. Omni 4.0 and Liobank: Two-speed digital growth A cornerstone of OCB’s digital platform is its Omni 4.0 initiative—an integrated banking experience that allows customers to seamlessly switch between online and offline interactions. “Omni 4.0 is not just mobile banking—it ensures the same service experience, whether online or at branches,” Thanh explained. The platform now supports 1 million monthly active users and contributed to a 20% growth in retail customers last year. Parallel to this is Liobank, OCB’s fully digital and human-free banking arm targeting young, digitally native users. “In our second year, Liobank has reached 500,000 users, largely driven by community referrals rather than marketing,” Thanh shared. The app caters to the financial needs of Gen Z customers and is closely integrated with social networks. Data-driven product modularity and low-code agility OCB’s technology strategy is based on modularity and rapid innovation, facilitated by a product-platform operating model. “Technology provides the platform; the business side builds products using modular components—like Lego blocks—leveraging APIs from our partners or from platforms like Temenos,” said Thanh. Low-code development tools have accelerated the launch of new services, such as a self-service SME merchant portal that not only supports payments and collections but also allows businesses to file taxes directly with government agencies—a move towards banking-as-a-platform. The use of data analytics and machine learning models enables more targeted product delivery. “We identify the right customer segment and deliver personalised solutions quickly,” he added. Core modernisation with Temenos and progressive migration OCB is running its transformation on Temenos' core banking platform, which Thanh credits for both stability and scalability. “We process around 10 million transactions per day. Temenos provides the reliability and openness needed for our open API strategy,” he said. Thanh is also an advocate for progressive core migration—an approach that allows the bank to avoid the pitfalls of big-bang replacements by modernising in stages. “Temenos’ newer releases embed artificial intelligence (AI) and composability. We can personalise, configure, and launch products faster, adapting quickly to market and regulatory needs.” This is vital for OCB’s dual focus on long-term lending products and new digital services, allowing it to serve both legacy customers and younger, platform-native users. Sustainable banking with cybersecurity and carbon metrics OCB has declared an ambition to be a leading green bank aligned with Vietnam’s Net Zero 2050 agenda. Its technology roadmap reflects this in three areas. First, vendor and infrastructure governance prioritises green-certified partners. Second, cybersecurity and data protection are integral to building customer trust. “Being a green bank is not just about carbon—it’s about maintaining safety and ethical standards,” Thanh explained. Third, OCB uses technology to track operational carbon emissions and to benchmark client performance on sustainability metrics. The bank offers preferential terms to corporates with strong environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials, supported by internal systems to measure environmental impact. Focused growth through customer lifetime value Digital transformation at OCB is evaluated through its impact on customer lifetime value (CLV), not just user acquisition. “Our goal is to grow core customers—those with three to four products. They bring higher loyalty and profitability,” Thanh said. OCB targets 20–30% annual growth in its affluent and mass-affluent segments. This segment-focused growth contrasts with the universal banking ambitions of Vietnam’s largest state-owned and private players. “We do not aim to be a universal bank. We want to be a segment specialist. That is where our technology and data investment is directed,” Thanh emphasised. Modular future for Vietnam’s banking evolution Thanh sees Vietnam’s banking industry entering a new phase of core banking evolution, with modernisation strategies shifting from legacy system overhaul to progressive, modular upgrades. “Many banks still operate on legacy cores. But with the cloud-native and AI-ready capabilities of modern platforms like Temenos, there’s now a lower-risk path to transformation,” he said. He believes composable architecture and embedded AI will be game changers, particularly in adapting to diverse customer behaviours across generations. “You can serve both long-term lending customers and digital-native users in parallel,” he added.
