Vietnam International Bank (VIB) has officially
put into operation its core system supporting treasury, foreign exchange, and financial
market trading activities, powered by Front Arena, the financial technology platform
developed by FIS Global, on Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud infrastructure,
making it the first bank in Vietnam to operate Front Arena on AWS.
Bringing Front Arena onto cloud infrastructure
further extends VIB’s Cloud-First strategy to critical systems while strengthening
the capabilities of a business area in which the bank has established a solid market
position. The new treasury and foreign exchange trading system enables VIB to expand
transaction processing capacity, increase automation, enhance real-time risk management,
and support the faster, more efficient expansion of treasury and foreign exchange
activities, with stronger controls as the bank continues to scale.
Expanding
trading capacity and real-time management
Front Arena is a multi-asset trading and risk
management platform developed by FIS, drawing on decades of experience serving financial
institutions across global markets. The platform is designed to manage the full
trade lifecycle – from trade execution, position, and risk management through post-trade
processing – on a unified architecture. This enables VIB to increase automation,
shorten processing times, reduce manual data entry, transformation, and reconciliation,
and access information more promptly for faster decision-making, while supporting
larger transaction volumes with more consistent controls.
Selecting Front Arena – a platform developed
and proven at international scale – enables VIB to leverage FIS’s technology capabilities
and accumulated market expertise in operating treasury and foreign exchange activities,
positioning the bank to accommodate larger scale, more sophisticated products, and
higher governance requirements in the next phase of development.
“VIB is entering the VIB 3.0 phase, developing
at a larger scale, with higher governance requirements as markets become increasingly
volatile and complex,” said Mr. Tran Chi Thanh, Head of Treasury at VIB. “Investing
in a treasury and foreign exchange trading system powered by Front Arena is one
step in our strategy to build the treasury and foreign exchange business capabilities
required for the bank’s next stage of development. Building on the position we have
established over many years, the new system will contribute to strengthening VIB’s
ability to grow sustainably and proactively in the stages to come.”
Leading
bank in treasury and foreign exchange
Over the years, VIB has consistently strengthened
its position among the leading banks in capital markets, demonstrating agility and
flexibility in trading government bonds and valuable papers issued by credit institutions.
At the same time, the bank has continued to expand its foreign exchange trading
volumes, ranking among the Top 2 in foreign exchange swap trading across the market.
Revenue from structured products and derivatives posted a compound annual growth
rate (CAGR) of 45 per cent over the 2020-2025 period.
In international markets, VIB has built its
reputation through a network of partnerships with leading banks and financial institutions,
while continuously expanding trade finance, international payments, and offshore
funding activities. Having participated in the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Trade
Finance Program since 2009 and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) program
since 2011, VIB was recognized by the ADB four times for its small and
medium-sized enterprise (SME) trade finance capabilities, in 2015, 2017, 2018, and
2019, and has received eight awards from the IFC for trade finance and excellence
in issuing bank capabilities, most recently the “Best GTFP Issuing Bank, East Asia
and Pacific” award in 2026. In international funding, as of August 2026, VIB’s total
offshore funding had exceeded $1.6 billion, reflecting the confidence of its partners
and the bank’s ability to access international sources of capital.
Building on a market position established and
consistently strengthened over many years, VIB is continuing to raise the standard
of its treasury and foreign exchange capabilities for the next phase of development,
with Front Arena representing one of the key investments aimed at advancing scale,
market capabilities, and governance standards to a new level.
Cloud-First
extends to critical systems
While Front Arena is the business platform,
AWS is the cloud computing infrastructure that enables its deployment and operation.
For the treasury and foreign exchange trading system, this combination further extends
VIB’s “Mobile First – Cloud First – AI First” strategy to systems that directly
generate business and management capabilities, enabling the bank to align technology
resources with actual demand and prepare for changes in transaction volumes and
business scope in the next phase.
This can be seen in the way a foreign exchange
transaction is processed: the front-office team is responsible for accurately recording
the agreed terms, such as currency, amount, exchange rate, and settlement date;
the control function uses this data to monitor limits and risk before the transaction
is approved; and the operations team then receives the transaction for confirmation
and settlement processing. Each function has distinct roles and authorities over
the same data set, providing the foundation for VIB to raise governance standards,
not merely processing speed.
The value of a Cloud model therefore does not
come simply from infrastructure migration but on how the organization designs user
access controls, monitors activities, and maintains appropriate control mechanisms
as transaction volumes grow. The system’s actual effectiveness will continue to
be assessed throughout its operation.
“With the treasury and foreign exchange trading
system, Cloud-First is not merely an infrastructure choice; it is how VIB creates
greater scalability, operational capacity, and governance at a higher level, enabling
technology to become an integral part of the bank’s growth capabilities,” said Mr.
Tran Nhat Minh, Deputy CEO in charge of Technology at VIB.
“Financial institutions consistently demand
the highest standards of security, resilience, and compliance for mission-critical
systems,” said Mr. Eric Yeo, General Manager of AWS Vietnam. “We are proud to partner
with VIB on its journey to migrate the core systems supporting its treasury and
foreign exchange operations to the cloud.”
As VIB marks its 30th anniversary, the deployment
of Front Arena is one of the investments the bank is making to prepare for its next
stage of development: greater scale, higher productivity, and stronger governance
capabilities.
