Since taking over as CEO in 2020, Jens Lottner has led Techcombank through a far-reaching transformation. The bank has rebuilt its infrastructure, shifted its customer strategy, and launched new business lines. These changes are supported by three foundational pillars: technology, data and talent.

“We made some big decisions and some big and bold investments,” Lottner said. “One of them was that we really will use technology very differently than we used it in the past. And technology doesn’t mean just technology, but actually also the underlying data.”

Rebuilding the core for real-time scale and responsiveness

One of the earliest decisions under Lottner’s leadership was to modernise the bank’s technology stack. Techcombank adopted a cloud-native architecture built on microservices, allowing it to scale transaction volumes and integrate with third-party platforms more efficiently.

“Building all the new technology stacks and all of that has enabled us to do things very, very differently,” said Lottner. “The way we engage with our customers, the way we learn about our customers, is probably in some of these areas not just good in Vietnam—it’s actually on a leading global standard.”

This infrastructure now supports Techcombank’s high-volume real-time transaction processing. The bank processes one of the highest shares of payments via the NAPAS (National Payment Corporation of Vietnam) network, which has enabled broader participation in embedded finance and ecosystem services.

At the core of this capability is a unified data platform that powers the bank’s analytics and personalisation efforts. Internally referred to as its “digital brain,” the platform delivers behavioural insights and supports precise customer segmentation.

“We are building a lot of capabilities around data and decision engines,” Lottner said. “We now tailor offerings down to the smallest customer segment and ensure we are not pushing the same things to everyone.”

Activating customers through embedded services

With its digital and data foundations in place, Techcombank has shifted from a focus on customer acquisition to customer activation—defined by sustained product usage and deeper engagement.

“We have had years where we onboarded five million new customers,” Lottner said. “But what's more important than just onboarding is really activating them—how do you engage them, how do you retain them, and how do you build long-term relationships?”

To this end, the bank has developed a suite of products and services aimed at embedding itself in customers’ daily lives. These include a current account with auto-earning features, a carbon-tracking debit card, and a digital rewards platform connected to more than 450 partner brands.

“Our objective is to really embed ourselves into these day-to-day interactions,” he explained. “Customers are not thinking about taking credit—you’re thinking about your day-to-day needs. Being able to have the capability to use open application programming interfaces (APIs), just connect, integrating the data and being present where the customer really wants you to be—I think really makes all the difference in the world.”

Building strategic ecosystems

Techcombank’s transformation also enabled the bank to extend its reach through ecosystem partnerships. Its technology and open APIs allow seamless integration with partners across industries, creating embedded financial experiences for customers.

“We have a lot of strategic partners where we are working very closely together, and it becomes a very seamless experience,” Lottner said. “If we would not have restructured our entire technology stack… I think we will do much, much more of that going forward.”

The bank’s ecosystem includes:

• Techcom Securities (TCBS), which offers investment banking and brokerage services
• TCLife, a life insurance joint venture with Vingroup
• TCGIns, a non-life insurance company offering a range of protection products from property to health insurance
• Masterise Homes, a premium property developer that enables the integration of Techcombank’s services into the real estate customer journey

These partnerships are part of a broader strategy to position the bank within the digital lifestyle of Vietnamese consumers and entrepreneurs.

Prioritising talent and organisational culture

For Lottner, the most critical factor in Techcombank’s transformation has not been technology or data—but people.

“When we did our strategy, there were actually three pillars: technology or digital, data, and talent,” he said. “And I think over the last couple of years, what’s very clear is actually that talent is the most important one.”

To strengthen its talent pipeline, the bank invested in internal learning and development while also actively recruiting overseas Vietnamese professionals with global experience in data, AI, and technology. It launched outreach campaigns across Silicon Valley, Sydney, Singapore, London and Paris.

“We probably engaged with thousands of Vietnamese overseas—and then in these personal interactions, probably 200–300 people,” Lottner said. “We really bring them back in order to help us actually accelerate.”

This shift also reflects broader changes in the labour market. As Lottner acknowledged that the dynamics of compensation and value creation in banking are changing. Today, a top-performing data scientist capable of building advanced algorithms may demand more than a successful sales producer—an inversion of traditional bank talent models.

Techcombank is also working to build a high-performance culture focused on agility, autonomy and execution. This contrasts with the more hierarchical models found in many state-owned banks, where decision-making is centralised and slow. Techcombank’s operating model encourages rapid delivery and cross-functional collaboration.

Aligning with Vietnam’s development agenda

Lottner links Techcombank’s transformation with Vietnam’s national economic aspirations. As the country looks to increase gross domestic product (GDP) and deepen its capital markets, financial institutions will need to provide more flexible, accessible and integrated financial solutions.

“There is this huge aspiration to accelerate GDP growth,” he said. “I think it is very hard to do this with the existing banking system or even the capital markets.”

To meet these demands, Techcombank is expanding into adjacent verticals. It has launched a general insurance company, received a licence for a life insurer, and is building capacity in payments, project finance  and capital markets.

“We just set up, at the end of last year, a general insurance company. We just got the licence for a life insurance company. We will probably work on the payment side,” said Lottner.

These capabilities are being built not in silos, but as part of an ecosystem that blends financial and non-financial services into unified digital experiences.

“There are a lot of really additional financial services and non-financial services we will work as an ecosystem to actually really help this development of Vietnam to get onto the next growth trajectory.”

Adapting to a more uncertain economic environment

In the current climate of heightened economic uncertainty—driven in part by rising trade tariffs and pressure on global supply chains that are impacting domestic business conditions and corporate debt repayment—there is growing emphasis on balancing growth with financial resilience. In this context, the strategic focus is shifting towards quality loan growth, defending net interest margins, and safeguarding asset quality amid increased volatility. At the same time, there is a renewed push to strengthen transaction processing capabilities—not only to deliver greater value to clients through operational efficiency, but also to capture new fee-based revenue opportunities. These adjustments reflect a broader need to sustain performance not only through expansion, but also through prudent risk and cost management.

A transformation still in progress

While the foundations have been laid, Techcombank’s transformation is ongoing. Lottner emphasised that the next phase will require deeper partnerships, broader business model evolution, and continued investment in analytics and talent.

“We have built a foundation—but it’s only the beginning,” he said. “We still have work to do in scaling partnerships, building out commercial and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) banking, and deepening our use of data.”

What the bank has accomplished so far—modernising infrastructure, activating customers, expanding ecosystems, and redefining talent—has moved it closer to becoming a platform-enabled, future-ready financial institution.

“We are not looking at just banking anymore. We are trying to embed ourselves into the day-to-day lives of our customers.”