Ho Chi Minh City, January 2026 – Decision Lab’s Best Bank Ranking 2026 once again recognises MB, Vietcombank, and BIDV as the three leading banks in Vietnam. Notably, for the first time in a decade of measurement, MB has overtaken Vietcombank to claim the number one position in brand health within Vietnam’s banking sector. Vietcombank and BIDV rank second and third, respectively, continuing to demonstrate strong, resilient brands and high levels of consumer trust.

A representative of MB commented on the ranking:

"MB’s first ascent to the top position in the Best Bank Rankings 2026 represents not only a historic milestone, but also the clearest validation of the strategic direction and effectiveness of its long-term, comprehensive digital transformation journey. This achievement provides strong momentum for MB to further accelerate its ongoing reinvention, transcending the traditional banking model and remaining steadfast in its vision of “becoming a leading digital enterprise and financial group,” where technology serves as the driving force and customer experience is placed at the core of all development.”

This year’s ranking records positive momentum among major banking brands, spanning both the state-owned sector and large-scale joint stock commercial banks. According to Decision Lab, this trend highlights the growing advantage of domestic banks in maintaining strong customer engagement, supported by extensive service coverage, diversified product portfolios, and deep integration into customers’ everyday financial needs. Meanwhile, foreign banks experienced greater volatility in brand health scores. This reflects the challenge of sustaining differentiated positioning as domestic banks expand their relevance and reach.

Decision Lab’s Best Bank Rankings 2026 recognises banks with the strongest brand health as well as those delivering the most notable improvements during 2025.

Based on more than 10,000 annual interviews with Vietnamese consumers, supported by a 10-year continuous data set, the ranking is among the most comprehensive longitudinal assessments of banking brand health in Vietnam.

Brands are ranked according to the BrandIndex of the YouGov BrandIndex platform, which measures overall brand health based on the average performance across key dimensions, including Impression, Quality, Value, Satisfaction, Recommend, and Corporate Reputation.

MB tops the Best Bank Rankings 2026 for the first time

The year 2026 marks the first time Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MB) took the top position in the Best Bank Rankings, with a score of 32.2 points. This achievement was driven by the strongest year-on-year growth across the industry in 2025, with an increase of +3.9 points, enabling MB to surpass Vietcombank (31.1 points) and become the bank with the highest Index score recorded this year.

The remaining banks in the Top 6 maintained their positions, including BIDV (22.3 points), Techcombank (21.8 points), VietinBank (19.7 points), and ACB (12.0 points). These results reaffirm the solid market position of Vietnam’s leading banks, while also reflecting the continued efforts of each institution to strengthen its competitive capabilities. Among them, BIDV and VietinBank continue to serve as pillars of the sector by accelerating both digital transformation and green banking initiatives. Techcombank, meanwhile, stands out among joint-stock commercial banks thanks to a consistent, long-term communication strategy focused on building a distinctive brand identity and expanding its presence on the global brand map.

SHB climbs four places industry-wide, entering the Top 10 joint stock commercial banks

Within the joint stock commercial banking group, MB, Techcombank, and ACB continue to hold leading positions.

SHB (4.5 points) recorded the largest upward movement, climbing four places across the industry to overtake MSB (4.2 points) and OCB (4.1 points), thereby securing a position among the Top 10 joint stock commercial banks in Vietnam. SHB's advancement was driven by improved customer perceptions of the brand. Its Value and Corporate Reputation metrics both increased by four ranks year-on-year.

SHB’s recent growth reflects the cumulative impact of brand-building initiatives and public engagements such as SHB and T&T World Cultural Festival, and V Fest – Vietnam Today. At the same time, improvements in business performance and digital transformation have also contributed to strengthening positive perceptions of the brand and reinforcing SHB's role in creating value for customers and the wider community.

A representative of SHB commented on the ranking:

“SHB’s strong upward movement in the rankings is clear evidence of its accelerated progress in enhancing the quality of products and services, as well as in applying technology to its business operations throughout its digital transformation journey. At the same time, SHB continues to accompany and engage closely with customers, communities, and society through major programmes and flagship events organised by the bank itself, as well as by ministries and at the national level. Through these efforts, SHB is further strengthening its competitive position in Vietnam’s private banking segment.”

State-owned banks consolidate trust-led growth in 2025

Among banks recording the greatest improvements in 2025, MB leads with a +3.9-point increase, reflecting a clear surge in brand awareness and appeal driven by deep digital transformation. Techcombank ranks second with a +2.4-point gain, reinforcing the effectiveness of its innovation-led, customer-centric, and long-term brand strategy. Following closely are three state-owned banks: Vietcombank (+0.9 points), VietinBank (+0.8 points), and Agribank (+0.7 points). Their steady improvements highlight enduring advantages in customer trust and market scale.

Overall, the Top 5 banks – MB, Techcombank, Vietcombank, VietinBank, and Agribank – illustrate a shared growth trajectory within Vietnam’s banking market, anchored in enhanced customer experience, stronger digital capabilities, and reinforced trust. As competition intensifies, the parallel progress of both private and state-owned banks signals a clear convergence toward a common goal: positioning banks as long-term, trusted financial partners.

HSBC retains leadership among foreign banks in Vietnam

Despite an overall decline in brand health scores among foreign banks over the past year, HSBC (5.1 points) continues to hold its position as the leading foreign bank brand in Vietnam. Other banks in the group maintained relatively stable rankings, with Shinhan Bank (3.8 points) in second place, followed by Standard Chartered Bank and UOB, both at 2.5 points, ranking third and fourth, respectively.

The decline among foreign banks is primarily driven by simultaneous decreases across Impression, Quality, Value, and Corporate Reputation. This trend suggests a slowdown in positive consumer perceptions amid intensifying competition from domestic banks.

Mr. Thue Quist Thomasen, CEO of Decision Lab, commented:

“In Vietnam, multi-banking behaviour is very common, but customers are only truly loyal to a small number of banks for their core financial needs. Success in the Vietnamese banking industry today is not driven by digitalisation alone, but by the ability to build consistent experiences and establish a long-term role in customers’ financial lives.”

About Decision Lab

Decision Lab is a company committed to driving new thinking and technology in marketing with Vietnam's most modern market research offering. Combining Decision Lab's thought leadership and problem-crunching capability with the industry's strongest data solutions provides a best-in-class offering for leading innovative brands ready to transform with changing market conditions.

Decision Lab is well-known for its thought leadership in digital media and the understanding of a new generation of consumers. Collaborating with innovative multinational companies and prominent international technology leaders, it has established itself as a vanguard in the industry.

Decision Lab is an exclusive partner of YouGov in Vietnam.

Methodology

The Decision Lab Best Bank Rankings 2026 are calculated using data collected from YouGov's online panel in Vietnam daily, from the flagship YouGov BrandIndex solution.

The brands were ranked based on the Index score, which measures overall brand health based on the average performance across the following factors:

• Impression: Overall positive or negative impression of the brand
• Quality: Perceived quality of products and services
• Value: Perceived value for money
• Corporate Reputation: Pride or hesitation in working for or recommending the company
• Satisfaction: Customer satisfaction with the brand
• Recommendation: Likelihood to recommend or avoid the brand

The Best Bank Rankings chart shows the brands with the highest Index scores between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2025.

The Top 10 Improvers chart ranks the brands with the highest increase in Index scores, comparing 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 with the previous 12 months.

Both scores are representative of the online population of adults 18+.

All brands have been tracked for at least six months to be included in the rankings and have been tracked for at least 18 months (as well as being currently tracked) to appear in the Improvers tables.