HA NOI (VNS)— IT was becoming more and more important to the financial security and operational efficiency of banking services, State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) Governor Nguyen Van Binh said at a banking technology conference in Ha Noi yesterday.

Many areas including payments, lending, e-banking and risk management had been equipped with new and more diversified technology, he said, adding that some services were now completely automated.

Speeding up IT application and upgrading banks' IT infrastructure were necessary to catch up with the trend, he stressed.

According to the SBV, many weaknesses in risk and banking management were exposed last year. The banking system is currently grappling with one of the region's highest bad debt ratios, at 8.82 per cent of total loans.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Minh Hoang singled out cloud computing, mobile computing and social media as major trends that had completely transformed the way banks operate and interact with customers.

"A focus on improving bank governance and risk management practices and pushing the restructuring of under-performing banks will be the main theme for 2013," he said.

In order to develop banking technology, the country should boost international co-operation and enhancing human resources and management, said SBV's Banking Strategy Institute director Nguyen Thi Kim Thanh.

World Bank economist Noritaka Akamatsu said that improving insolvency and restructuring State-owned enterprises should be the main goals for the banking sector's development.

The International Data Group, the co-organiser of the event together with the SBV, said that e-banking and mobile banking were showing great potential. — VNS