Vietnam International Bank becomes Vietnam’s First Bank to offer AWS-Powered Gen AI on Mobile Banking

Leading Vietnamese retail bank launches the first generative AI assistant to enhance customers’ experience in finding banking information, aims to achieve a 40% boost in customer service productivity, grow its client base by 20% and optimize operational cost

HANOI, VIETNAM — December 11, 2024— Vietnam International Bank (VIB), one of the leading retail banks in Vietnam, today announced it is transforming the user experience on its MyVIB digital banking platform with the launch of the new ViePro generative artificial intelligence (generative AI)-powered assistant. With ViePro, VIB becomes the first bank in Vietnam to provide millions of customers with a 24/7, highly accurate, and interactive assistant that is built on the world’s leading cloud, Amazon Web Services (AWS). 

Powered by AWS, ViePro revolutionizes customer engagement by providing immediate, accurate responses in Vietnamese to various topics related to VIB’s products and services including credit cards, mortgages, and vehicle loans. This innovation will enhance customer satisfaction and service efficiency, with targets to boost productivity by 40%. ViePro is expected to optimize IT and human resource requirements by up to 80%, compared to current operations. The bank anticipates this advanced, user-friendly experience will drive a 20% growth in its digital customer base over the next year, demonstrating VIB's commitment to leveraging technology for improved customer service and operational efficiency. In the coming months, VIB continue to evolve ViePro into a financial advisor-style AI assistant to help customers better manage their finances with services like loan capacity calculations and spending management based on the customer’s profile.

"AWS has been incredibly supportive of our 'Mobile First, Cloud First, AI First' strategy, enabling us to better serve our customers with the lasts AI driven that appeal to Gen Z as well as to all newly banked individuals," said Mr. Tran Nhat Minh, Deputy CEO and Head of Digital Banking of VIB. "Generative AI has enormous potential to revolutionize our customer service and expand our user base. With AWS’s help, we swiftly developed and refined our ViePro AI assistant, significantly optimizing costs and reducing complexity. This has not only boosted our operational efficiency but also empowered us to provide our customers with precise, real-time support, enhancing their overall banking experience."

Rapid Deployment of AI to Meet Growing Demand

In the Digital Transformation era, the adoption of AI assistants in banking is expected to grow significantly as technologies like generative AI, natural language processing (NLP), and machine learning (ML) continue to advance. By embracing AI assistants, banks such as VIB are paving the way for a more innovative, efficient, and customer-centric future. 

VIB has developed a Gen AI virtual assistant powered by a secure, proprietary knowledge base, ensuring the AI provider has no access to confidential bank information. By utilizing Claude 3 Haiku on Amazon Bedrock, VIB can customize its proprietary banking data stored in AWS, allowing for tailored outputs that meet specific business needs like personalized financial services. In addition, VIB also uses Amazon SageMaker, a fully managed ML service, to enhance operations and provide personalized customer recommendations like spending limits and discounts. This delivered a flexible platform that can integrate with any large language model (LLM), which allows VIB to choose the right model for its use case. To trial ViePro, VIB successfully tested the AI assistant with its 12,000 employees in 189 branches across Vietnam in September 2024. The AI assistant was then rolled out to 200,000 selected customers in October, with a fuller rollout to millions of mobile banking customers starting in December 2024.

Empowering the Workforce: The Foundation for Scaling AI and Cloud Innovations 

VIB has also collaborated with AWS to implement a comprehensive cloud and generative AI training program for its 12,000-person workforce through AWS Skill Builder. This full-scale upskilling initiative will enhance VIB’s workforce skills in areas like cloud computing, cybersecurity, data analysis, AI, and machine learning. AWS Skill Builder includes more than 600 free online courses, practical workshops, webinars, and certification preparation. Users can also access hands-on labs, exam prep materials, and gamified learning experiences like AWS Cloud Quest. The platform emphasizes practical learning through guided labs in the AWS Console, allowing users to apply their knowledge in real-world scenarios without incurring costs from unanticipated expenses.

“The banking industry in Vietnam is accelerating innovation with the latest generative AI technology on AWS. We are heartened with VIB’s deployment of its ViePro generative AI assistant that will evolve rapidly to meet increasingly sophisticated customer needs,” said Eric Yeo, Country General Manager, AWS Vietnam. “We were thrilled to help VIB find the right generative AI solution that would enable them to delight their customers, and look forward to seeing VIB’s next innovation can do for Vietnam’s banking community and our ongoing training support.”