(16 July 2008 – Vietnam) ANZ has announced that it has launched the first mobile banking service in Vietnam.Since it began operations in Vietnam in 1993, ANZ has thus far kept to a small ATM network and online banking service.
The bank has now added to expand its service offerings in a bid to gain market share in the capital city of Hanoi as well as in Ho Chi Minh City
The new mobile banking service will be a free service, initially only to customers in these two major cities.
Research firm, Research and Markets, said that Vietnam’s current mobile phone usage stands at 18.5 percent. While this equates to just less than 16 million of its population of 85.2 million, mobile usage is growing at a rate of 800,000 a month.
Given these figures, mobile usage will more than double over the next two years in Vietnam.
Earlier this month, ANZ received to permission to become the first foreign bank to be fully incorporated in Vietnam. The decision came after Vietnam was admitted to the World Trade Organisation last year.
ANZ currently offers mobile banking in New Zealand and is set to roll out its offering in Australia later this year, after running a pilot program.