Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) was set up in 1993. Foralmost twenty years since then, ACB was considered a well-managed bank and followed a strategy characterized by the pursuit of opportunities, focus on growth and building of advantage with key processes and simple rules. By end 2011, the bank was the largest in terms of assets among the joint-stock banks, only smaller than the big four state-owned commercial banks. In 2012, actions taken to comply with changes in the central bank’s regulations introduced one year earlier relating to gold deposits and gold loans, and an incident that happened to the bank in August that triggered a few-days bank run resulted in one-third reduction of the size of the bank’s balance sheet and affected profitability. ACB was then said to be a wounded tiger, and Mr. Tran Hung Huy was elected Chairman by the Board of Directors the same year to replace the resigned independent chairman.
Chairman Huy earned his bachelor’s degree with three majors in business administration, finance and international business in 2000 and an MBA in 2002 from Chapman University (USA). In 2010, he earned his DBA from Golden Gate University (USA). He joined ACB as Marketing Director in 2002 and was appointed Deputy CEO in 2008 and served as its Chief HR Officer. He earned his experience in investment banking when working in the M&A advisory team of Rothschild Group (UK) from 2010 to 2011. From late 2012 through 2019 ACB has been transformed into a resilient and competitive organization under his chairmanship.
“Chairman Huy held a strategy workshop to revise the bank’s strategies. These included a 5-year strategy 2014 – 2018 and five crystalized core values of the bank: integrity, prudence, innovation, efficiency and balance. A key task was to restructure the bank in terms of financial standing, branch network, and human resource streamlining.”
New Code of Leadership Practices
Build vision and core values and develop strategy
In 2013, Chairman Huy held a strategy workshop to revise the bank’s strategies. These included a 5-year strategy 2014 – 2018 and five crystalized core values of the bank: integrity, prudence, innovation, efficiency and balance. A key task was to restructure the bank in terms of financial standing, branch network, and human resource streamlining. In 2018, as Chair of the Strategy Board, he held several workshops to devise a new strategy for the bank for the period 2019 – 2024 that aims to build ACB for the future. One of the strategic objectives is to be among the three most profitable banks in Vietnam, and a higher ROE of 20%.
Focus on building people and cultural change
Chairman Huy’s concern is how to get great people on the board and the management and to upgrade talents and make them partners rather than mere employees. He also set higher expectations supported by higher incentives and compensation. New performance targets were introduced to push employee-partners to go beyond “Satisfied” to “Excellent” and “Outstanding”.
Lead innovation
Banks are facing increased challenges from disruptive innovators who are able to provide customers with seamless and more affordable products and services and they have to reconsider their competitive advantage and determine their competitive strategy going forward. Fully aware of this, Chairman Huy initiated the Innovation Lab, sponsored innovation events like ACB WIN (We Innovate Now) 2018 and 2019, and send ACB staff to fintech festivals in Singapore.
Promote environmental conscientiousness and sustainable practices through staff and community engagement
Chairman Huy initiated programmes to raise awareness among employees on the importance of managing wastes and how to keep the environment green. ACB recently launched the Go Paperless project to reduce paper usage bank-wide, and a policy to abandon the
use of plastic bottled water, single use plastic bags and encouraged employees to persuade their relatives and community members to do the same, in accordance with the bank’s slogan “Closer to Earth.” ACB is also a contributor to the Fauna and Flora International (FFI) to protect endangered primate species in Vietnam.
OUTSTANDING CATEGORY
Tran Hung Huy
Chairman
Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) was set up in 1993. Foralmost twenty years since then, ACB was considered a well-managed bank and followed a strategy characterized by the pursuit of opportunities, focus on growth and building of advantage with key processes and simple rules. By end 2011, the bank was the largest in terms of assets among the joint-stock banks, only smaller than the big four state-owned commercial banks. In 2012, actions taken to comply with changes in the central bank’s regulations introduced one year earlier relating to gold deposits and gold loans, and an incident that happened to the bank in August that triggered a few-days bank run resulted in one-third reduction of the size of the bank’s balance sheet and affected profitability. ACB was then said to be a wounded tiger, and Mr. Tran Hung Huy was elected Chairman by the Board of Directors the same year to replace the resigned independent chairman.
Chairman Huy earned his bachelor’s degree with three majors in business administration, finance and international business in 2000 and an MBA in 2002 from Chapman University (USA). In 2010, he earned his DBA from Golden Gate University (USA). He joined ACB as Marketing Director in 2002 and was appointed Deputy CEO in 2008 and served as its Chief HR Officer. He earned his experience in investment banking when working in the M&A advisory team of Rothschild Group (UK) from 2010 to 2011. From late 2012 through 2019 ACB has been transformed into a resilient and competitive organization under his chairmanship.
New Code of Leadership Practices
Build vision and core values and develop strategy
In 2013, Chairman Huy held a strategy workshop to revise the bank’s strategies. These included a 5-year strategy 2014 – 2018 and five crystalized core values of the bank: integrity, prudence, innovation, efficiency and balance.
“Chairman Huy held a strategy workshop to revise the bank’s strategies. These included a 5-year strategy 2014 – 2018 and five crystalized core values of the bank: integrity, prudence, innovation, efficiency and balance. A key task was to restructure the bank in terms of financial standing, branch network, and human resource streamlining.”
A key task was to restructure the bank in terms of financial standing, branch network, and human resource streamlining. In 2018, as Chair of the Strategy Board, he held several workshops to devise a new strategy for the bank for the period 2019 – 2024 that aims to build ACB for the future. One of the strategic objectives is to be among the three most profitable banks in Vietnam, and a higher ROE of 20%.
Focus on building people and cultural change
Chairman Huy’s concern is how to get great people on the board and the management and to upgrade talents and make them partners rather than mere employees. He also set higher expectations supported by higher incentives and compensation. New performance targets were introduced to push employee-partners to go beyond “Satisfied” to “Excellent” and “Outstanding”.
Lead innovation
Banks are facing increased challenges from disruptive innovators who are able to provide customers with seamless and more affordable products and services and they have to reconsider their competitive advantage and determine their competitive strategy going forward. Fully aware of this, Chairman Huy initiated the Innovation Lab, sponsored innovation events like ACB WIN (We Innovate Now) 2018 and 2019, and send ACB staff to fintech festivals in Singapore.
Promote environmental conscientiousness and sustainable practices through staff and community engagement
Chairman Huy initiated programmes to raise awareness among employees on the importance of managing wastes and how to keep the environment green. ACB recently launched the Go Paperless project to reduce paper usage bank-wide, and a policy to abandon the
use of plastic bottled water, single use plastic bags and encouraged employees to persuade their relatives and community members to do the same, in accordance with the bank’s slogan “Closer to Earth.” ACB is also a contributor to the Fauna and Flora International (FFI) to protect endangered primate species in Vietnam.