SHB has been awarded as “Best Trade Finance Bank” and “Best Internet Bank” in Vietnam in 2015 by International Finance Magazine – a well-known finance and banking magazine in the UK.

For trade finance business, in 2014, SHB’s trade finance volume reached USD 2.5 billion, a sharp YoY growth of 40%. The growth did not only see in trade finance volume, but also in number of transactions which grew at the same growth rate of 40%. Such growth rate provided SHB a firm position among top trade finance banks in Vietnam. This is a proud performance for SHB – a bank which is considered a new player in trade finance market.

There were many factors contributing to such great volume and growth of trade finance of SHB. The first factor was that SHB’s pricing was so flexible that it offers attractive, competitive and suitable pricing to different customer segments, which made the bank differentiated from other banks in the market and helped to acquire new clients from other banks. The second factor was SHB’s extensive international and domestic network. With more than 500 correspondent banks globally, SHB has a big advantage in offering excellent payment services to customers located in different parts of the world. Besides, the extensive branch network including nearly 400 transaction points in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia also plays an important role in serving customers in a timely and convenient manner. Another factor for a successful year of trade finance is the innovation in technologies. The bank has non-stop improved its technologies especially internet banking service to provide customers with online solutions to enable them to access to SHB’s services from anywhere at anytime. Last but not least, the bank also paid high attention to its customer service quality especially focusing on the simplification of procedures and enhancement of service quality of its transaction banking team.

One of last year’s highlight was that SHB introduced various new solutions to the trade finance market such as: export factoring, UPAS LC, LC outsourcing, hedging tools, etc. to offer customers with better products at more affordable cost. Those solutions had been researched and studied carefully by the Bank’s dedicated team who had insight understanding about customers based on their needs, feedbacks, etc.  Thanks to its diversified product portfolio and good customer service, SHB have been able to retain existing customers and attracted more and more importers and exporters in key economic sectors of Vietnam such as: agriculture, seafood, machinery, etc. and helped them to boost their business internationally.

In 2015, SHB sets a target of USD 3.5 billion for trade volume (a YoY growth of 40% compared with 2014). Such target is quite challenging but the bank’s management still expresses the confidence that 2015 will be a more successful year for the bank’s trade finance business in particular and overall business performance in general.

For internet banking service, customers favor to use SHB’s internet banking because of its convenience, safety, simplicity, modern technology and non-stop development.

Customers’ convenience is the most important factor in the process of building SHB Internet Banking System. From the early days of development, SHB has not only developed the usual features such as queries, money transfers …, but also provided customers with many add-on services such as: mobile phone payments, payment of electricity, water, cable TV … Unlike other banks focusing on developing the width of utility services, SHB always believes: “Only when our services help customers solve their daily life problems and bring them the benefit and utility, do they use our services”.

SHB also acknowledges the fears of customers in Vietnam market when they begin to approach to use Electronic Banking in general and Internet Banking in particular. They are always worried about the safety before thinking about the utility which is the result of their consumption habits and the use of cash for years. Therefore, the completely safety of SHB Internet Banking System is always ensured besides the development of the features. At the same time, SHB’s safety measures are always public to our customers to help them feel safe when they make a transaction. SHB Internet Banking system is equipped with SSL Certification provided by Symantec, a big security company in the world, to encrypt and ensure absolute confidentiality of transaction information. In addition, the financial transactions of customers are required to authenticate multi-factor authentication method (2FA Authentication) to make sure that no unauthorized transactions are made.

Safety and simplicity/easiness to use are two inverse factors and need to be balanced to ensure the best customer service. SHB Internet Banking System is designed to meet all types of customers’ need, including those who have a quite low-level technology skill which are quite popular in Vietnam. Firstly, SHB has developed a system with Vietnamese interface and language and on-screen tips as well as live support tool to support customers as soon as possible. Secondly, the study of customers’ psychology, the embarrassment and distraction when seeing a complex screen, the screen is always designed as simply as possible and with fewer steps of transaction.

A modern system is not a factor that is directly beneficial to the customer, but it is a very important factor for the bank to be able to serve the growing requirements of customers better. Technology changes constantly so that the R & D team constantly study, do research and apply the latest technology in Internet Banking system. Server systems, transmission systems, database systems and the service tool language system of e-banking are also updated in new versions.

Electronic Banking in general and SHB Internet Banking in particular has received the attention and the use of several customers. SHB e-banking has been in the top 10 most favorite banks voted by customers in My-Ebank Award celebrated by VnExpress electronic press – a prestigious electronic newspaper with the biggest number of viewers../.