Foreign and domestic bankers pursue VIP clients
Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), Standard Chartered and then ANZ have launched retail banking services this year.
Most recently, Citibank announced the banking product “CitiGold,” which only targets high income clients and requires a minimum balance of USD50,000.
Shirish Apte, General Director of CitiBank Asia Pacific, when launching CitiGold, said that the bank believes that Vietnam will be a large VIP market by 2015.
Domestic banks are also seeking out VIP clients by launching high grade banking products. VP Bank, for example, now provides VP Bank MasterCard Platinum, the first card in Vietnam to use chip security technology in accordance with EMV standards with a credit limit of up to 500 million dong.
Other banks have offered Visa cards designed for clients with good payment capabilities and high spending needs. Though credit cards issued by domestic banks target different clients by offering varying credit limits, analysts say there are no specific cards designed for VIP clients. In fact, they only have cards that can serve many clients.
Foreign banks have been paying special attention to take care of “special clients.” Those with a balance of USD1 million always get careful attention. Some foreign banks have set up set up branches that specialize in serving only 20-30 VIP clients.
Most domestic banks also have plans to “conquer” high-end clients. Techcombank now has specific counters for VIP clients at its retail branches. Lien Viet Bank representatives revealed that the bank is conducting surveys to launch a product package reserved for VIP clients. VIB Bank also noted that the banks will direct their efforts toward clients from the middle class and higher income earners.
VIP clients will naturally expect to receive many preferences. For example, they will be able to borrow money with easier conditions, borrow bigger sums of money and obtain longer term loans with more preferential interest rates.
Domestic bankers admit that they have faced difficulties in designing products for VIPs.
A director of one of the top five banks in Vietnam acknowledged that the biggest problem is the lack of transparency in income declarations of Vietnamese people. He speculated that the number of wealthy people in Vietnam is relatively large, but not many people want to prove that they are actually rich. “This is really the big obstacle for banks wishing to access wealthy clients to develop a series of products for high income earners,” he remarked.
Despite the problems, most believe that VIP clients will be the main focus of many banks in the future, because this market segment keeps growing in Asia, an area considered as the most rapidly developing in the world.
