VPBank
Scaling smarter and powering inclusion
Hanoi, Vietnam
At a Glance
• One of the largest core banking upgrades executed in Vietnam
• 18M+ accounts migrated in a single weekend
• 30% faster business processing
• 40% increase in payment transaction volumes
• Core banking system now handles double the volume with zero incidents
• Near-zero customer disruption during go-live
A growth engine for Vietnam
Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank) is one of Vietnam’s largest private banks, serving over 30 million customers across retail and corporate banking. The bank is a leader in digital innovation, having launched multiple digital brands including NEO, NEOBiz, UBank, Cake. To serve millions more customers with speed and reliability, VPBank recognized that its core banking platform had to evolve – to be faster, smarter, and more scalable.
Expanding from the core
VPBank had been using Temenos Core Banking since 2006. As it has grown, it has retained this core, while upgrading to new releases.
“We always need to improve our speed to market and agility,” said Augustine Wong Kok Seng, former CIO at VPBank. “Digital banks move fast, and if we want to stay competitive, we need to keep our core platform at the cutting edge.”
More importantly, many of the alternative platforms required specialized business analyst skills that were hard to source in emerging markets like Vietnam.
We were told we’d need people who could construct smart contracts. Temenos offered a more intuitive, business-friendly platform that our teams could adapt to quickly. That made the decision clear.”
Augustine Wong Kok Seng, former CIO at VPBank
A strategic upgrade with the right partners
VPBank committed to upgrading its Temenos core banking, while shifting to a hybrid architecture using Red Hat OpenShift. The bank partnered with Systems Limited, with proven expertise in deploying Red Hat OpenShift for core banking on-premise. Red Hat was instrumental in helping containerise VPBank’s core banking system. While the core continues to run on-premise in a private cloud, AWS supported the broader hybrid architecture and testing environments, providing flexibility as the bank plans for future innovations.
This wasn’t a routine upgrade. It was one of the largest and most complex core banking transformations in the country. It involved migrating more than 18 million accounts and 77 terabytes of data, all within a 24-hour go-live window.
Key to success was VPBank’s decision to run the upgrade using disaster recovery (DR) mode to avoid impacting customer service. For most of the weekend, customers continued transacting as usual, with only a brief three-hour switchover window when systems were unavailable.
“With this modernisation, VPBank gains the ability to orchestrate workloads at scale, streamline deployments, and maintain high availability. These are critical capabilities for supporting millions of customers while driving continuous innovation,” said Dao Hoang Giang (Jane), Country Manager, Red Hat Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos & Myanmar.
Results that scale with ambition
The transformation delivered immediate and measurable gains. Business processing speeds improved by 30%, and payment transaction volumes rose by 40%. The upgraded system can now handle double the daily volume without issue, enabling faster, more stable product launches. Most importantly, the go-live was completed without a single incident, ensuring uninterrupted service and reinforcing trust across the customer base.
Today, we can serve twice the volume with better quality. The customer experience is significantly improved – faster, more responsive, and more reliable.”
Do Cam Van, Director of Core Banking Applications Service at VPBank
Built on trust, delivered through partnership
Temenos was the natural choice for VPBank’s continued core transformation. With over 30 Temenos clients in Vietnam, the bank saw deep local knowledge and the business functionality no other vendor could match.
No one else had the business functionality and scale we needed. We explored all options, but Temenos was the only partner who could support our growth at this size. Frankly, no one else had the depth we needed. When things got tough, Temenos’ leadership was directly involved. I could call them up at any time, and they made things happen.”
Augustine Wong Kok Seng, former CIO at VPBank
Augustine emphasized that VPBank’s strategy remains dynamic. “We’re constantly evaluating new technologies,” he said. “This decision made the most sense at the current juncture, but the pace of change is fast. We’re always scanning the horizon, but if Temenos continues to innovate and decouple modules, they’ll stay in the lead.”
Systems Limited impressed the bank with its resolve. “They didn’t talk about cost,” Augustine said. “They talked about solving the problem. That made all the difference.”
“This success with VPBank demonstrates the depth of our expertise in executing major core banking upgrades on a global scale,” said Ammara Masood, GM Global Industries, Banking & Financial Services, Systems Limited. “By combining innovative methodologies with Temenos’ next-generation platform and Red Hat OpenShift, we’ve enabled VPBank to achieve remarkable improvements in scalability, efficiency, and performance.”
Modernisation that drives inclusion
The technology upgrade is about more than just scale. It’s also enabling inclusion.
Vietnam has a population of over 100 million, but only around 30 million are currently banked. VPBank is on a mission to change that. “Our full name – Vietnam Prosperity Bank – says it all,” Augustine said. “We’re here to build an inclusive financial society. That requires trust, and trust is built on stable, scalable systems.”
AI, automation, and agility
With the new core in place, VPBank is now focused on building out its AI strategy. From conversational AI tools to internal automation, the bank is developing an “AI factory” model that enables teams to build, test, and launch intelligent tools faster.
The foundation is the data; and the integrity of that data comes from a trusted, resilient core.
“AI is just an enabler,” Augustine said. “Data is the crown jewel. And with Temenos, we know our data is secure, stable, and ready to power the next wave of innovation.”
With the upgrade complete and the bank now future-ready, VPBank is focused on reaching the next horizon of growth. As digital adoption accelerates and AI reshapes the financial landscape, agility will be the key to the future, explains Augustine. “Now we have the capabilities to adapt. That’s partly about the technology we’ve deployed, but equally about having a partner in Temenos that is shaping the future, putting us in the driving seat.”
We partnered successfully with:
Banking solutions for all segments
Empowering banks across segments with scalable, innovative, and efficient solutions.
Customer Success Stories
Real stories of transformation with Temenos solutions.