The Future of Coexistence in Banking

Vietnam’s banking sector is undergoing a rapid digital transformation. Over 95% of transactions at many banks are now digital, with QR payments and mobile banking surging, while ATM usage declines. Strong government support, including the target for 80% of e-commerce transactions to be cashless by 2030, alongside evolving e-KYC, open API, and data governance regulations, is accelerating open banking and ecosystem-driven services.

Co-existence allows banks to modernise securely and efficiently, preserving legacy cores as systems of record while layering cloud-native, API-driven platforms for innovation, customer engagement, and agility. Decades-old cores, siloed data, and fragile integrations make transformation complex, and leadership caution about disrupting mission-critical operations adds further challenges.

Co-existence provides a practical, sustainable blueprint for step-by-step modernisation, risk mitigation, and accelerated digital innovation in Vietnam.

The Future of Coexistence in Banking

Coexistence allows banks to modernise rapidly and securely by maintaining their legacy core systems while layering cloud-native platforms for innovation, engagement, and efficiency. This hybrid approach reduces cost, complexity, and risk, enabling banks to respond faster to evolving customer expectations.

By adopting modular, API-first architectures, financial institutions can innovate at the edges, deliver advanced digital experiences, and explore new revenue models such as Banking-as-a-Service and ecosystem partnerships. Coexistence also strengthens regulatory resilience and ensures compliance across ASEAN markets, as authorities drive initiatives in open banking, e-KYC, and digital financial inclusion.

Coexistence is no longer a temporary workaround – it is a strategic foundation and a competitive advantage. By decoupling capabilities and empowering domain-led teams, banks can innovate independently yet cohesively, remove long-standing coordination bottlenecks, and accelerate digital transformation. Anchored in clear strategy, modular execution, and empowered teams, coexistence allows banks to scale innovation, simplify legacy complexity, and future-proof their business.

The future of Cards-as-a-Service

Cards-as-a-Service (CaaS) allows businesses to quickly and efficiently issue and manage payment cards – debit, credit or prepaid – without the heavy investment in infrastructure or specialised expertise. By leveraging cloud-based platforms, CaaS simplifies the entire card issuance process, handling everything from transaction processing to regulatory compliance and fraud detection. This allows financial institutions, fintechs, and even non-financial companies to launch and scale card programmes with greater speed and flexibility.

As the financial services sector continues its shift toward digital-first models, CaaS is becoming a key enabler by unlocking the ability to offer customisable card solutions rapidly and cost-effectively, transforming how businesses engage with their customers. CaaS also facilitates embedded finance, thereby improving user experiences and unlocking new revenue streams.

Looking ahead, the future of CaaS is promising, with continued growth driven by emerging technologies and evolving customer expectations. Through strategic partnerships, like the one between audax, Paymentology and Mastercard, companies can seamlessly integrate CaaS into their operations, overcoming technical, regulatory, and operational challenges. This helps businesses adopt CaaS with ease, enabling them to scale their offerings and drive innovation, all while ensuring compliance and security in an increasingly complex digital landscape.

Banking ROE projected to fall below 7.2% by 2030

The global banking sector faces mounting pressure as Return on Equity (ROE) continues to decline. Incumbent banks and financial institutions (FIs) must act urgently to modernise and compete with agile digital challengers. This eBook provides actionable strategies for banks and FIs to address the ROE challenge by leveraging open finance solutions, including Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS), digital banking, and the modernisation of incumbent infrastructure to unlock new revenue streams and drive innovation. Key Highlights:

• ROE Insights: Understand global and regional trends driving profitability challenges.
• Strategic Growth Solutions: Leverage BaaS and digital banking to enhance customer experiences and grow ecosystems.
• Modernisation Pathways: Explore incremental, low-risk approaches like dual-mode evolution to transform infrastructure without costly rip-and-replace models.
• Real-World Results: Learn from case studies like Standard Chartered’s partnership with all-commerce platform Bukalapak in Indonesia, showcasing how ecosystem partnerships deliver measurable success.

Designed for leaders in incumbent banks and FIs, this eBook, c0-authored by audax, Synpulse and AWS, offers a roadmap to thrive in a digital-first, customer-centric future.

The Strategic Imperative of BaaS

Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) is poised to revolutionise the financial sector, projected to grow from $11 billion in 2022 to over $38 billion by 2027. This whitepaper explores how BaaS enables banks and financial institutions (FIs) to expand their customer base and introduce innovative financial products at lower costs, improving returns on equity and opening new revenue streams.

Despite its promising future, BaaS adoption faces significant challenges, including regulatory compliance and operational readiness. Strategic partnerships with fintech companies are crucial for banks and FIs looking to overcome these obstacles and accelerate their market entry. From this whitepaper, you will gain actionable insights into navigating the complexities of BaaS, benefiting from proven strategies and case studies to successfully implement and leverage BaaS in your own organisation.

A $25 billion opportunity!

Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) is revolutionising the financial services sector, reshaping how banks deliver financial products and services to consumers and businesses.

This whitepaper is specifically designed for incumbent banks considering BaaS. With BaaS as a business model, banks can partner non-bank entities and integrate banking capabilities, enabling these non-bank entities to offer financial services to their customers without the need to obtain a banking license or build their own banking infrastructure. This presents significant market opportunities to the entire ecosystem.

By 2026, Forbes reports that Embedded Finance is projected to reach USD7 trillion in transaction value and BaaS could evolve into a USD$25 billion opportunity for banks, underscoring its pivotal role in the ever-evolving financial landscape. This paper examines the key drivers fuelling the growth of BaaS, its impact and transformative potential on banks and non-bank entities, and its profound implications for consumers. Case studies will also illustrate the various BaaS implementations and offer valuable insights for banks interested in pursuing a BaaS strategy.

Banks looking to provide BaaS as a value proposition will find audax’s and Thought Machine’s solutions well-positioned to seize this unique opportunity and succeed in the new era of financial services.