Shinhan Finance Honored with the Mass Consumer Credit Innovation Award

On December 5, Shinhan Vietnam Finance Company Limited (Shinhan Finance) has just been awarded the Mass Consumer Credit Innovation Award by Mastercard, the world’s leading electronic payment technology company. This marks the second year that Shinhan Finance has been recognized by Mastercard.

A foundation for innovation in mass-market credit products

This award celebrates a financial institution that has redefined how mass-segment consumers access and benefit from credit in today’s digital era. By leveraging advanced analytics and a deep understanding of customer needs, the winner has built a smart, scalable, and responsible lending model that bridges financial inclusion gaps while maintaining strong portfolio performance.

The core factor that helped Shinhan Finance earn this recognition lies in its ability to build an intelligent, scalable, and responsible credit model. This model is based on advanced data analytics and precise measurement of financial behavior across different mass-market customer segments.

Since launching its credit card product in August 2022, Shinhan Finance has continuously enhanced it by optimizing operational processes and strengthening system security:

• Integrating Napas 24/7 payments, improving repayment cycles and reducing payment delays.

• Applying Virtual Card, allowing customers to activate and transact instantly, thereby reducing operating costs and issuance risks.

• Diversifying digital payment methods (Google Pay, contactless), meeting EMV global security standards and the rising trend of contactless transactions.

• Optimizing installment policies for small transactions, helping reduce overdue rates by aligning with customers' repayment capacity.

• Increasing partnered promotions with major e-commerce platforms, encouraging responsible spending and cashless transactions.

These enhancements demonstrate the company’s focus on a data-driven strategy to improve portfolio quality and repayment behavior while elevating the customer experience.

Furthermore, throughout 2025, Shinhan Finance collaborated with its major partners to introduce a wide range of benefits for Vietnamese customers — from consumer goods, shopping, and apparel to personal healthcare across multiple levels. This significantly strengthened the brand image of THE FIRST credit card among Vietnam’s mass-market consumers.

The Mastercard Awards Council acknowledged Shinhan Finance’s efforts in maintaining credit portfolio quality in line with the expansion of its customer base. At the same time, Shinhan Finance ensured full compliance with regulations on system safety and data protection, and developed products aligned with the national direction promoting cashless payments and financial inclusion.

The application of a flexible digital-based credit assessment model enables the company to enhance approval efficiency, shorten processing time, and still uphold risk-management standards set by the Shinhan Financial Group.

Strategy for expanding responsible credit and comprehensive digitalization

In the coming period, Shinhan Finance aims to complete and expand multiple card-opening policies to reach high-quality and potential customer segments with the simplest and fastest process. Developing and implementing end-to-end digital processes will help strengthen the company’s competitive capability and meet customer demand for rapid card issuance.

Additionally, the company will strengthen partnerships with strategic players across the consumer–financial ecosystem, expanding the practical use of credit cards in everyday transactions. The goal is to position the credit card as a financial backup tool, helping customers optimize expenses and encouraging responsible spending behavior.

The Mass Consumer Credit Innovation Award marks an important milestone for Shinhan Finance at the end of 2025, reflecting international recognition of its mass-market credit model and contributing to the modernization of Vietnam’s consumer finance industry.

Previously, in 2024, Shinhan Finance was also honored by Master Card in the category “The Credit Growth Catalyst 2024.”