Brand plays an important role in the development of any companies or organizations. In Vietnam companies and organizations have realized the role and become more and more professional in their re-branding, especially for banks. It is very clear that there is a wave of bank re-branding in Vietnam. A variety of large or small-scaled, local or international banks in Vietnam such as VietinBank, MaritimeBank, Techcombank, Seabank, VIBank, Oceanbank, etc., have been re-branded in the professional manner.
Since Vietnam has joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), an increasing number of international banks are entering the very potential banking market of Vietnam. The Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC bank, ANZ are typical examples. This has increased the competitive pressure for local banks in Vietnam to compete with not only product and service, but also brand perception. Due to this, banks in Vietnam have tended to re-brand to become more professional against the pressure.
What’s more, the re-branding will make the banks difference. There is an opinion that most of the profit that banks earned from credit activities; in other words, there is not much difference in business among banks. Hence banks may have re-branded themselves to right target their group of customers. Take the issuance of Flexicard of PG Bank (a local bank in Vietnam) for example. The debit cards are intended for customers to purchase petroleum flexibly and with ease. The card users can use this card to purchase petroleum and oil at all the petrol stores of Petrolimex – 51% petroleum and oil market share holder in Vietnam – without any cash in their pocket.
Finally, it is true that banks in Vietnam are following a trend of re-branding. If one bank re-brands, other competitor banks will start re-branding. It is the fact as If you are in the case; your direct competitors have re-branded and gained great perception of the target customers from the re-branding, would you do the same to maintain and improve your market position? Now I think you have the answer.
In brief, as far as the wave of bank re-branding in Vietnam is concerned, banks should think of re-branding themselves to be professional, different and trend-setter to compete well in the increasingly competitive market in Vietnam or in anywhere in the world. If one bank wants to professionally re-brand itself; it must invest a comparatively big amount of money. Therefore, they should know who they are and who they will be as they start thinking of a re-branding.
