Segment-focused strategy: platform to expand VPBank's lending growth potential

Against a backdrop of an increasingly competitive financial market and growingly diverse demand, VPBank has built a product-and-service ecosystem tailored to each customer segment. The approach is designed to scale and deepen customer lifetime value, with the bank’s 2026 target for consolidated credit outstanding nearing VND 1.3 quadrillion.

Segment coverage: a platform for deeper credit growth

One differentiator in VPBank’s business model is its “segment coverage” strategy, which takes a holistic approach across individuals, small business households, SMEs, and large corporate clients.

Instead of relying on traditional customer pools, the bank segments customers into multiple layers based on different needs, financial behaviors, and service usage levels. This enables tailored solutions across the full range of banking services—such as lending, payments, and deposits—alongside investment, insurance, and wealth management for both individual and corporate clients.

Tiered customer system in key segments

In the two strategic segments—individuals and SMEs—the strategy is implemented through a tiered customer system linked to specialized financial solutions.

In 2026, VPBank targets consolidated credit outstanding by year-end at nearly 1.3 quadrillion dong, up 34%.

Personal segment expansion and customer growth

In 2025, VPBank expanded its personal customer reach with the launch of VPBank Private Banking (elite clients), alongside VPBank Diamond (priority clients), VPBank Prime (younger clients), and VPBank CommCredit (households). Together with FE CREDIT and Cake by VPBank serving mass and near-mass segments, the model is intended to cover customer needs across different life stages.

The impact is reflected in rapid growth in the individual customer base. By the end of 2025, VPBank served more than 1.123 million Private customers, over 700,000 Diamond customers, and about 2.7 million Prime customers. Total personal customers reached 19.4 million, up 24% versus 2024.

Credit for the personal customer segment reached nearly VND 324,000 billion by end-2025, up 25% year-on-year. With scale and a coherent product-and-service ecosystem, VPBank remains a leader across multiple areas, including credit cards, auto loans, and non-life insurance.

SME segmentation and credit growth

For SMEs, VPBank divides the market into two sub-segments: Micro SME and Upper SME. Upper SME is oriented toward leading in scale and revenue, maintaining momentum for short- and mid-term growth through key industries and supply-chain financing programs. Micro SME focuses on expanding a high-quality, diverse client base tied to real capital needs and short business cycles, helping reduce concentration risk and improve long-term portfolio stability.

By end-2025, VPBank expanded its SME client base to nearly 200,000 enterprises, and SME credit growth rose 38% year-on-year from 2024.

Expanding segments and digitization to unlock new growth

In an analytical note, ACBS said that following the compulsory GPBank transfer, VPBank received a credit-growth limit of up to 35%. This is seen as a major advantage as the State Bank of Vietnam tightens sector-wide credit-growth limits to 15% in 2026, compared with 19% in 2024.

2026 credit target and contribution by segment

According to the Board of Directors’ plan to be presented at the annual general meeting, VPBank targets consolidated credit outstanding by year-end 2026 at nearly 1.3 quadrillion dong, up 34%.

The bank expects the 1.3 quadrillion figure to be supported by broad-based, deeper credit growth, with emphasis on the personal and SME segments, while optimizing the product mix to improve efficiency, exploit segmentation more deeply, and diversify by industry to increase market penetration.

Individual segment: lifecycle engagement and mortgage focus

VPBank continues to view segmentation as a long-term pillar to lift service value and extend customer lifetime. In addition to Private, Diamond, Prime, and CommCredit, the bank plans to roll out the Upper Mass (upper-end) segment and increase engagement across the full customer lifecycle through a bespoke service model for each segment. Products will be packaged into comprehensive solutions tailored to each client group to improve experience, maximize value, and support sustainable business performance.

The bank also plans selective growth in the personal customer base linked to ecosystem expansion and portfolio efficiency, focusing on mortgage products. For unsecured lending and cards, VPBank maintains sustainable growth by prioritizing full digitalization of the sales process, refining policies by segment, and developing digital products such as online lending, BNPL, and a specialized card portfolio. It will also use data and AI to personalize offers, drive cross-selling, and improve per-customer value.

SME segment: five pillars for quality and efficiency

For SMEs, VPBank’s growth target is intended to align with quality, efficiency, and sustainability, guided by five pillars: expand Upper SME across 16 key industries; accelerate digitization of all customer touchpoints for Micro SMEs; develop digital payments and corporate-card solutions; expand the Merchant ecosystem and Acquiring services; and digitalize business operations through the NEOBiz platform.

In this strategy, data and technology—especially AI—are identified as a cross-cutting foundation. By using transaction data and analyzing behavior, the bank aims to forecast enterprise capital needs, shorten credit access time, and provide more tailored financial solutions at different development stages.

Minh Tai (source: FILI)