Vietnam will need 1.6 million new workers for the banking sector in the 2016-2020 period, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO). It is expected that the banking sector would have 300,000 workers by 2020.

Though the number of workers newly recruited in Q3 was 46 percent higher than the quarter before, banks still lack workers for current operations.

For many years, the banking sector has been struggling with a personnel problem: it has unqualified workers in abundance and lacks high-quality ones. 

The problem will become even more serious in the 4.0 industry era. Banks will have difficulties re-training their workforce to satisfy the requirements in new circumstances.

Vietnam’s credit institutions have also been warned that they will face a brain drain, i.e. qualified workers will leave for foreign institutions which offer higher wages and job promotions.

As for future jobs in the banking sector, an expert said the number of officers at transaction points and bank branches will be cut, while the demand for high-quality workers will be increasing. 

Bank officers will have to be good at both financial operations and information technology. 

A high-quality workforce is a big challenge not only for the banking sector, but also for other industries, since robots will undertake works now implemented by humans.

As AI becomes better, banks will be able to utilize AI in risk portfolio management, client and database management. Capable of adapting, AI for apps is unlimited.

“Modern AI-integrated robots will not only be able to replace humans in doing simple manual works, but also make interactions with clients,” said Pham Anh Tuan, a member of Vietcombank’s board of management.

Labor experts have expressed concern about Vietnam’s slow preparation in human resources for the new industrial revolution. 

While other regional economies such as South Korea and Taiwan have moved forward to prepare a high-quality workforce, and universities in the US have begun teaching AI and machine learning in MBA training courses, Vietnam is still at the starting point.

The report released by the Forecast and Statistics Department under the State Bank of Vietnam in July showed that 30 percent of credit institutions said they were lacking workers, and 70 percent planned to enlarge their workforce, while the remaining 30 percent would retain or reduce the workforce compared with the number in late 2017.

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