OpenWay and Digital Bank Timo win at the Vietnam Technology Excellence Award

Launching a modern API-based digital banking platform in record time during the COVID-19 pandemic is no easy feat. But OpenWay and Timo Digital Bank made it happen to deliver a smart, savvy customer lifestyle experience with a human touch, winning the Vietnam Technology Excellence Award for Software Payments.

The awards program recognizes major breakthroughs and innovative ways that technology is used or developed in the Vietnamese market. OpenWay and Timo distinguished themselves through their partnership by producing an award-winning digital banking platform.

Timo, whose name is a combination of the letters in “time” and “money”, has consistently emphasised customer-centricity at its core since its foundation in 2015. The company is widely recognized as one of the first banks in Vietnam to offer eKYC services that save customers time during onboarding and allow access to other banking services online.

Besides providing an easier and more secure customer experience, Timo’s innovative and targeted strategy revolves around the needs of mass affluent and future affluent young users with mid-range salaries, also ambitious, educated professionals making their way up the career ladder. In 2019, the bank partnered with Viet Capital Bank and OpenWay, the provider of Way4, the leading digital payments software platform, to enable it to offer innovative services through their app, including smart financial management tools, payments, savings and investments, lending, social spending, instalments, cards, and campaigns with third-party vendors, available on multiple digital platforms – iOS, Android, and web.

The Way4 platform from OpenWay was launched in AWS in just 4 months, providing external systems with a full set of APIs. The platform allows the management of both fully digital card issuing and payment lifecycle, playing a key role as a back-office system for Timo’s end users.  Timo was able to launch a quick and fully digital customer onboarding process, aiding operations in a country where the banking adoption rate is still relatively low.

The Timo Hangout location combines the convenient onboarding and networking experiences

With just a couple of minutes on the digital app and 15 minutes in a Timo Hangout location, the onboarding process can be completed securely and conveniently. During the in-person verification required by State Bank of Vietnam, the customer can enjoy a complimentary beverage and chat with bank staff. Timo’s Hangout space is the opposite of the traditionally cold, official bank branch, since it is both a coffee shop and banking center that looks like a trendy, minimalist cafe with digital perks. Representatives stand by as needed, turning the hangout space into either a temporary workplace, a meeting point, or like the name suggests, a hangout spot.

Henry Nguyen, CEO of Timo Digital Bank

"This funding round is not only a signal that digital banking is the future in Vietnam, but it also demonstrates investors' confidence that Timo is leading this important sector,” said Henry Nguyen, CEO of Timo Digital Bank after securing $20m in fresh funding led by Square Peg in 2022. He added that the company is deeply committed to the mission of setting the benchmark for modern banking in Vietnam while bringing greater financial inclusion and accessibility.

Source: The Asian Business Review