After a wave of layoffs during 2025 as part of restructuring efforts, banks across Vietnam are now seeking to recruit hundreds to thousands of new staff, though with stricter requirements for candidate quality.
Vietnam International Bank (VIB) has recently announced nationwide recruitment with a significant demand for new personnel. More than 800 positions are being offered in customer relationship management and business development roles, accounting for the majority of its hiring plan.
Meanwhile, Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) has launched a major recruitment drive for 118 positions across locations ranging from Hanoi to provinces in the Mekong Delta.
Other lenders, including HDBank and VietinBank, have also begun advertising dozens to hundreds of vacancies across multiple branches.
Staff processing transactions at a bank in Vietnam (Photo: Tien Tuan).
The renewed hiring activity comes after the banking sector underwent significant workforce restructuring last year, including the closure or downsizing of many branches.
Financial reports from 28 commercial banks show that 15 institutions recorded a decline in employee numbers compared with 2024. As of December 31, 2025, the combined workforce of the 28 banks stood at 241,416 employees, down by 1,707 compared with the end of 2024.
Experts say the job cuts in 2025 were not simply aimed at reducing costs but were part of broader restructuring strategies designed to improve operational efficiency and labour productivity.
Many banks have streamlined traditional branch networks while investing more heavily in digital banking, artificial intelligence, process automation and big data analytics. As a result, repetitive tasks such as data entry, document processing and basic transactions are increasingly being replaced by software systems.
With competition intensifying and customer behaviour evolving rapidly, technology-driven operating models are becoming the industry standard. Recruitment demand is therefore shifting toward roles requiring stronger digital and technological capabilities.
Analysts say the new hiring wave is likely to focus on higher-quality talent as Vietnam’s banking industry enters a period of rapid transformation centred on technology and digital financial services.
