Abstract of Doctoral thesis: Quality of financial- banking services in the commercial banks of Vietnam

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING THE TSTATE BANK OF
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VIETNAM THE STATE BANK OF VIETNAM

BANKINGUNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITYOF
OFHO
HOCHI
CHIMINH
MINHCITY
CITY
BANKING
-------oo0oo-------------oo0oo-------

NGUYENTHANH
THANH CONG
CONG
NGUYEN

DEVELOPMENT OF
FINANCIAL - BANKING SERVICES IN THE COMMERCIAL
QUALITY OF FINANCIAL
- BANKING SERVICES
BANKS OF VIETNAM
IN THE COMMERCIAL BANKS OF VIETNAM

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH STUDENT
ABSTRACT OF DOCTORAL THESIS
Major: Economics - Finance - Banking
Major:
Finance

Banking
Code:
62 31- 12
01
Code:
62
31
12
01
Course: 14
Course: 14

Science instructors:
Instructor 1: Science
Ass. Dr.instructors:
TRINH QUOC TRUNG
Instructor 1: DR. TRINH
QUOC
TRUNG
Instructor
2: Dr.
PHAN NGOC MINH
Instructor 2: DR.PHANNGOC MINH

HO CHI MINH CITY - 2016



CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

1.1. THE URGENCY OF SUBJECT
Along with the global economic integration trend, financial - banking sector of
Vietnam has made striking changes, commercial banks have quickly get access to the modern
business models, advanced banking technologies, new experience and management methods
of the developed countries, etc.,. Besides valuable opportunities; however,Vietnam's
commercial banks also have met many difficulties and challenges, especially since Vietnam
officially became a member of WTO and signed bilateral trade agreements with the United
States, Japan, etc. whichhas created enormous pressure for domestic banking system.
According to the roadmap, many foreign credit institutions will join Vietnam's financial
market while many barriers, regulations restricting activities of the foreign banks by the
Government will gradually be removed. These require domestic banks to innovate operation
methods, improve quality of service to be able to adapt to the new situation.
In Vietnam, although there have been many studies about service quality in many
different areas anddifferent levels; general results of these studies still exist certain drawbacks.
For exclusive studies about the banking sector, the authors tend to focus on evaluating service
quality of some specific types of services such as: electronic banking, credit, international
payment, retail banking, etc., in a particular bank; hence, the results cannot perform panoramic
features about service quality of the finance - banking sector in Vietnam market. Besides,
commercial banks in Vietnam have conducted various surveys and preliminary evaluation of
service quality for some types of services; however, these surveys have not demonstrated
quantitativeness in an scientific way which leads to ineffective and non-integrated
implementation of advanced methodsfor service quality improvement in banks. Therefore, in
order to demonstrate general current status of service quality in the entire commercial bank
system of Vietnam in the current period undera fundamental and and scientific foundation, the
author chooses the subject "Quality of financial- banking services in the commercial banks
of Vietnam". The research results can be an important contribution to the commercial banks
of Vietnam in improving the service quality to increase competitive advantage in the financial
market.
1.2. OBJECTIVES
As mentioned on the critical nature of the service quality of credit institutions in the

financial market, the thesis mainly focuses on the quality of financial- banking services in the
commercial banks of Vietnamwith the following objectives:
-

Build a system of scales and models measuring the quality of financial- banking services
in the commercial banks of Vietnam

-

Measure, evaluate the quality of financial- banking services in the commercial banks of
Vietnam and compare differences in service quality perception among commercial bank
groups.

-

Inspect impacts of any factors on the service qualityand service quality itself on
satisfaction of customers' needs, and then compare differences in service quality
perception among customers by gender, age, income and education level.
1


-

Propose policy implications to improve the quality of financial- banking services in the
commercial banks of Vietnam.

To accomplish the above objectives, the thesis is designed to address the following questions:
-

Which factors should Vietnam's commercial banks consider when evaluating the service

quality?

-

How is quality of financial- banking services in the commercial banks of Vietnam
measured?

-

Are there any differences in customers' service quality perception towards commercial
bank groups and among groups of customers?

-

Does service quality affect the satisfaction of customers' needs?

-

Which issues must be improved to be able to maintain a long-term commitment of
customers to the banks as well as contribute to improve competitiveness of the financial
market ?

1.3. RESEARCH SUBJECT AND SCOPE
-

Research subject: Quality of financial- banking services in the commercial banks of
Vietnam.

-

Research scope:
+ Regarding to contents: This thesis mainly studies issues related to the banking sector
in Vietnam's commercial banks; factors affecting the service quality; its situation in
Vietnam's commercial banks in the current period through surveys of domestic
customers; impact level of factors on the service quality and the service quality itself to
the customers' satisfaction; and comparison of differences in service quality perception
among customers.
+ Regarding to research space: To ensure representativeness of research samples in a
comprehensive review of the service quality of financial- banking sector in Vietnam's
commercial banks, data are collected from surveys of customers who use financial banking services in Vietnam's commercial banks in big cities.
+ Regarding to research time: Data of research are obtained from business results of
the entire banking system in Vietnam from 2009 to 2014 and the surveys of customers
about the financial - banking service quality during the period from June 2014 to
September 2014.

1.4. RESEARCH METHODS
The methods to be applied in the thesis are as follows:
-

Qualitative research, a method of in-depth interview techniques for experts in the financial
- banking sector and customers using the bank's services.

-

Quantitative research,a method of surveying customers' feedbacks through detailed
questionnaires.

2

1.5. SCIENTIFIC AND PRACTICAL MENANINGS
The research "Quality of financial - banking services in the commercial banks of
Vietnam" represents significantly scientific and practical meanings as follows:
-

Scientifically, the research results contribute theoretical basis about the service quality, the
system of scales and measurement models of financial - banking service quality into the
source of theoretical research on relevant issues.

-

Practically, the research results help managers obtain an overview on the current status of
service quality in commercial banks of Vietnam, identify possible factors affecting the
service quality, thereby, identify the targeted directions in the formulation of appropriate
policies in order to maintain the customer's long-term commitment to the banks as well as
improve competitive advantage in the financial market.

1.6. NEW CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE THESIS
It can be seen from the research results that the thesishas the following new contributions:
-

Develop a system of scales and models of measuring quality of service with clearly
scientific grounds, reaching reliability and allowable values, in accordance with the
context of researching and evaluating financial - banking service quality in the commercial
banks. Especially, the research results of this thesis have been expressed in the extensive
research trends. From the 5 – component SERVQUAL model of Parasuraman (1985), the
theoretical model of this thesis is adjusted further factor to match with the context of
market and customers psychology in Vietnam that the previous research works of the
authors could not show clearly.

-

In addition to measuring and evaluating service quality, testing impacts of factors on the
services quality and the satisfaction of customers' needs, the research results also compare
differences in service quality perception among commercial banks, among customer
groups by gender, age, income and education level.

-

From the research results of this thesis, eight policy implications which the commercial
banks of Vietnam need to focus to are recommended to enhance the quality of financial banking services.

1.7. STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS
Apart from the list of tables, charts, figures, references, the thesis is broken down into
5 chapters as follows:
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Theoretical basis of quality of financial - banking services
Chapter 3: Research methods and models measuring quality of financial - banking services in
Vietnam's commercial banks
Chapter 4: Research results of measuring quality of financial - banking services in Vietnam's
commercial banks
Chapter 5: Conclusion and policy implications for improving quality of financial - banking
services in Vietnam's commercial banks
3


CHAPTER 2
THEORETICAL BASIS OF QUALITY OF
FINANCIAL - BANKING SERVICES
2.1. DEFINITION OF SERVICE

Services are a variety of activities intended to meet human needs. They are featured by
non-existence in specific product types (tangible) such as goods, inseparability from the
origin, quality instability, inability to be preserved, etc., but direct serving certain needs of
society.
2.2. FINANCIAL- BANKING SERVICES
2.2.1 Concept of financial- banking services
Financial - banking services are the entire intermediary activities in terms of
monetary, credit, payments, foreign exchange, etc., of banks in order to meet the needs of
customers and provide the best source of profit for the banks.
2.2.2 Features of financial- banking services
From the concept mentioned above, it can be seen that the financial- banking services
differ with conventional commodities in term of its nature. According to Trinh Quoc Trung
(2009, p.330), the financial - banking services have two basic characteristics deciding the
entire process of formation, supply, management and exploitation of products and services as
follows:
-

By comparing service attributes of banking products to those of industrial products, the
former expresses its invisibility, heterogeneity, lump-sum, inseparability between the
production and consumption and inability to be reserved like the latter. Depending on the
type of products and services that the above-mentioned elements are combined in a
proportionate manner.

-

In term of financial attributes, the former is expressed by privacy, confidentiality and
sensitivity of information related to financial aspect of any individuals or organizations.
Financial attributes are considered one of the largest obstacles or barriers for providers of
banking services in the process of formation, supply, exploitation and product
management.

2.2.3 Types of financial - bankingservices
2.2.3.1. Funds generation
Funds generation is either basic types of services of commercial banks aimed at
creating business capital for banks. By this service, commercial banks use different tools and
methods to mobilize idle money from individuals and entities in the economy to meet the
borrowing requirements of the economy. This service is expressed in the following forms:
+ Deposit service, including: Term deposit, payment deposit, resident savings deposit,
demand deposit, time deposit, deposit services of other banks ...
-

Issuance of valuable documents to raise capital
+ Other services, including: Borrowings from the State (State Bank of Vietnam), loans to
other credit institutions, Reliability service, etc.,
4


2.2.3.2. Funds utilization
From funds mobilized from organizations and individuals in the economy, the
commercial banks provide different types of lending services, bank guarantee, financial
leasing and other lending forms to contribute to revenues and profitsfor the banks as well as
promote economic development. Where:
+ Direct lending includes: Real estate lending, consumer lending, agricultural lending,
import and export loans ...
+ Indirect lending includes: Discount of valuable papers, factoring.
+ Bank guarantee: Borrowing guarantee, Bid security, Performance guarantee, Work
quality guarantee, Payment guarantee, Financial leasing.
+ Other forms of lending.
2.2.3.3. Charged services
-

Forex trading service.
Domestic and international payment service.
Electronic banking service, including: Internet banking, Home banking, Mobile banking,
Phone banking, SMS Banking, VnTopUp….
Treasury service
Other charged services, such as: asset safe-keeping; safe rental; card payment acceptance;
balance confirmation to prove financial capacity; brokerage for securities investment, real
estate; debt trading, etc.,

2.2.3.4. Mixed services
Mixed services is the one to combine multiple different utility functions or some types
of services mentioned above to increase convenience for customers when using financial banking services. Common mixed services provided by the commercial banks to customers in
the current financial market include card service and insurance link.
-

Card service, including:domestic card and international card
Bank insurance model (Bancassurance)

2.3. QUALITY OF FINANCIAL - BANKING SERVICES
2.3.1 Concept of quality of financial - banking services
Quality of financial - banking services is the difference between expectations and
perception by customers when using services provided by the banks.
2.3.2 Roles of service quality for banking operations
2.3.2.1. Enhance competitive advantage for banks
2.3.2.2. Strengthen collaborative links among organizations both at home and abroad
2.3.2.3. Promote diversification of types of products and services
2.3.2.4. Attract and retain customers
2.3.2.5. Consolidate position and enhance brand reputation for the banks
2.3.3 Relationship between the service quality and satisfaction of customers' needs

5


Service quality is one factor greatly affecting the satisfaction of customers' needs. If
the banks provide customers with products and services of high quality and satisfy their needs,
these banks are considered initially making customers happy. Therefore, the banks are highly
recommend to enhance service quality at first to enhance the satisfaction of customers' needs, .
In other words, service quality and satisfaction of customers' needs have close relationships
with each other, in which the former is created at first and decides on the satisfaction of
customers' needs. Although the service quality is determined by many factors, it is one
important source, the thing to be created at first and then decides on meeting the needs of
customers.
2.3.4 Factors affecting the quality of financial - bankingservices
2.3.4.1. External factors
-

Economic environment

-

Political and legal environment

-

Social, cultural, demographic and geographical environment

-

Demand and tastes of customers

-

Globalization and level of competition among banks

2.3.4.2. Internal factors
-

Financial capability

-

Facilities

-

Network operation

-

Level of banking technology investment

-

Marketing strategies and communications

-

Policies on customers

-

Quality of human resources

2.4. CRITERIA FOR MEASURING QUALITY OF FINANCIAL - BANKING
SERVICES
From the '80s to the present, the researchers Grönroos (1984), Parasuraman & CTG
(1985, 1988), Cronin & Taylor (1992),... have launched research models and measurement
criteria of service quality under different approaches from previous ones, which creates
extended premise to studypractical issues related to the service quality.
Based on the model of service quality measurement by Grönroos (1984), Parasuraman
(1988) built and developed SERVQUAL model which consists of 5 criteria: (1) tangibles, (2)
reliability, (3) responsiveness, (4) assurance, (5) empathy with 22 observes variables to
measure the service quality as follows :

6


Table 2.1 Measurement criteria of SERVQUAL model
Criteria of
service quality
measurement
Reliability
Responsiveness
Assurance
Empathy
Tangibles

Description
Measure the ability to perform service appropriately and on time
at the first time.

Measure the desire and readiness of personnel in providing
timely service to customers.
Measure qualification and service styles of being polite and
affable with customers.
Measure care to each individual customer.
Measure appearance, outfits of service personnel, equipment,
materials, facilities to render services.
Source: Parasuraman & ctg (1988)

Although SERVQUAL model hasbeen used by many researchers to measure service
quality in many different areassuch as: restaurants, hotels, telecommunications, hotels,
supermarkets, schools, finance - banks, etc., they have not still get the entire consensus from
many researchers Cronin&Taylor (1992, 1994), Teas (1993), Haywood- Farmer (1988),
Philip&Hazlet t(1997)...Cronin & Taylor (1992) suggested that service quality is a form of
customers' attitude and perspective, the premise ofsatisfaction and meaning for purchase
intentions of customers. Customers do not purchase services of the highest quality but
purchase on the basis of an evaluating the services' value; hence, the evaluation and
measurement is best based on the perception quality without any expectations quality of
customers and then the author proposes SERVPERF model to measure the serice quality.
Thus, it can be seen from an examination of the measurement models mentioned above
that none of models is thoroughly accepted by the researchers and none of general definition is
completely recognized regarding to measurement activities of serice quality. However, in the
measurement models, SERVQUAL as proposed by Parasuraman & ctg (1988) has been
received much support from many researchers such as Akan (1995), Avkiran (1994), Babakus
& Mangold ( 1992), Bojanic (1991), Carman (1990), Johns & Tyas (1996), Saleh & Ryan
(1991),etc., and most of them supported the view that the measurement and evaluation of
serice quality should be implemented on the basis of comparing any difference between
perception quality and expectations of consumers when using services.
Therefore, starting from viewpoints of service quality of researchers around the world
as well as limitations of research work of local authors, within the research scope of this

thesis, the author suggest using 5 measurement criteria of SERVQUAL model to measure
financial- banking service quality in Vietnam's commercial banks. However, the application of
these criteria need additional adjustments, by adding or removing certain criteria, etc., to fit
the cultural context and behaviors of customers in Vietnam.

7


CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODS AND MODEL MEASURING
QUALITY OF FINANCIAL - BANKING SERVICES
IN VIETNAM’S COMMERCIAL BANKS
3.1. RESEARCH METHOD

Research objectives

Qualitative research

Draft scale

Quantitative reseach

Adjusted scale
(1sttime)

Scale adjustment

Analysis of reliability
Cronbach’s Alpha

Adjusted scale
(2ndtime)

Exploratory factor analysis
(EFA)

Adjusted scale
(3rdtime)

Confirmatory factor analysis
(EFA)

Complete
scale

Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)
Boostrap test
Multigroup structure analysis

Analysis of service quality distance

Figure 3.1: Research process
Source: References from Churchill (1979)
8


Implementation process to research on service quality of financial - banking in
Vietnam's commercial banks includes two steps, namely a preliminary study and formal study.
In particular, preliminary study is conducted through the qualitative and quantitative methods.
Qualitative preliminary study is carried out in-depth interviews with experts and customers

who are using financial- banking services to discover, add and adjust the factors and observed
variables to measure the research concepts. Quantitative preliminary study is done through
technical analysis of Cronbach's Alpha, EFA, and CFA aiming to conduct preliminary
assessment of scales and test the suitability of measurement models of service quality with
market data .
Official research is done by quantitative research method based on preliminary
research results. The research is conducted to measure the quality of financial- banking
services in Vietnam's commercial banks as well as test the research models with hypotheses
and then compare any differences in the models among customers.
Research process offinancial- banking service quality in Vietnam's commercial banks
is shown in detail through the following steps (see Figure 3.1).
3.2. MODEL FOR MEASURING QUALITY OF FINANCIAL - BANKING SERVICES
Based on the 5 - distance measurement model of Parasuraman (1984), the
measurement model offinance - banking service quality in Vietnam's commercial banks is
developed through in-depth interviews with experts and customers using banking services.
In-depth interview process is conducted through interviewing 25 people. 12 out of 25
people mentioned above are professionals who work on teaching, studying financial- banking
sector in the universities and senior financial managers being in charge of directly operating
and managing business operations in Vietnam's commercial banks based in big cities of Ho
Chi Minh City area, Southeast region, Central region, Western region and Northern region; the
remaining 13 customers are those who uses services at the commercial banks of Vietnam.
It can be seen from the in-depth interview results that in order to measure financial banking service qualityin Vietnam's commercial banks, in addition to the 5 factors: (1)
tangibles; (2) reliability; (3) assurance; (4) responsiveness; (5) empathy from the SERVQUAL
model, it is necessary to add the factor named "Access". Experts and customers interviewed
said that customers in Vietnam's market feel satisfied if their desired needs are met. In addition
to the issues related to service providers, infrastructure, equipment, the bank needs to
facilitatecustomers to get access to services such as banking products and services in some
ways such as diverse productswith many choices, competitive pricing policy, simple
conditions of use, extensive popularity of information of products and services to customers,
widespread transaction network, convenient place and time of transactions for customers, etc.,.

Compared with domestic work previously, it can be realized that the research models of
authors mainly focused on studying and evaluating issues related to staffs, infrastructure
conditions on the basis of five factors from SERVQUAL rather than take into consideration
extended study to other factors, such as "Access"in the measurement and evaluation of service
quality in Vietnam's commercial banks. Thus, from the original model SERVQUAL of 5
factors, the author adds one factor "Access" and suggests VBSQ measurement model
(Vietnam Banking Service Quality) of 6 factors: (1) tangibles; (2) reliability; (3) assurance;
(4) responsiveness; (5) empathy; (6) access to perform measurements of the financial banking service quality in Vietnam's commercial banks. In particular, the factor "Access" is
9


used to measure banking problems to create favorable conditions for customers to get access
banking services.
Besides, in order to test the impact level of service quality on the satisfaction of
customers' needs in Vietnam's commercial banks, the author proposes one factor "satisfaction
of the customers' needs" to the VBSQ model (see Figure 3.2).
Tangibles
Reliability

Responsiveness
Service
quality

Satisfaction of
customers' needs

Assurance

Empathy
Access

Figure 3.2: Model for measuring quality of financial - bankingservices
(Source: Additional correction from SERVQUAL model of Parasuraman, 1985)
3.3. MEASUREMENT SCALES OF QUALITY OF FINANCIAL - BANKING
SERVICES
From the results of in-depth interviews as well, the author conducts addition of
measurement scales or appropriate criteria to the context of the financial market of Vietnam.
From 5 criteria of the original SERVQUAL model and another added criterion named
"Access" together with 41 original observed variables (including 37 observed variables under
5 measurement criteria and 4 observed variables under the satisfaction criterion), it is
shortened to 35 observed variables due to coincidence in the evaluation meanings of a number
of variables, including 36 observed variables under 6 measurement criteria and 4 observed
variables under the satisfaction of customers' needs.
3.4. PRELIMINARY EVALUATION OF MEASUREMENT SCALES
3.4.1 Analysis of scale reliability
It is indicated from the analysis results of Cronbach's Alpha that all factors of VBSQ
model are larger than 0.7; in other words, it is able to conclude that the scales of the factors
achieve its sufficient reliability (Hair & cgt, 1998). Therefore, it can be seen from the results
of the analysis that all the observed variables of 6 factors for service quality measurement are
appropriate to the analysis of EFA in the next step.

10


3.4.2 Exploratory factor analysis (EFA)
It is indicated from EFA analysis that the original VBSQ model consisting of 6 factors
is adjusted to 4 factors affecting service quality: (1) Staffs; (2) Access; (3) Tangibles; (4)
Reliability and other 2 dependent factors calling service quality and "satisfaction of customers'
needs." At the same time, testing results also show that the observed variables in these factors
are correlated with each other andEFA analysis is suitable.
3.5. TESTING OF SERVICE QUALITY MEASUREMENT SCALES OF FINANCE BANKING SERVICES IN VIETNAM’S COMMERCIAL BANKS

Although the results of EFA analysis extracts 4 factors, the author continues to perform
testing of measurement scales by CFA analysis through AMOS software to test consistency
level with market data of service quality measurement model.
It is stated by the testing results that Chi-square/df = 1.997 <3 (Hair & CTG, 1998); GFI =
.940 3, TLI = 0.968, CFI = 0.972 which are greater than 0.9 (Bentler & Bonett, 1980); and
RMSEA = 0.42 <0.5 (Steiger, 1990). This can be concluded that the measurement model
VBSQ fit the data market although 3 factors: staff, tangibles and reliability do not achieve
unitary nature due to the correlation among the errors (e1 ↔ e4, e14 ↔ e15, e21 ↔ e22) of
some observed variables under the three factors mentioned above.
In term of factor loading of the observed variables, the CFA analysis results show that
the factor loading is greater than 0.5 and statistically significant (P value = 0.000 <0.05); so, the
scales are reaching a convergence value. At the same time, the correlation coefficient among 4
factors in the measurement model VBSQ are less than 1 and statistically significant (P value =
0.000 <0.05), so, all of them reach a distinguishing value.
Thus, it can be shown from the analysis results of preliminary assessment that the scale
measurement tool forfinancial - banking service quality in Vietnam's commercial banks
include 4 factors: (1) staff; (2) access; (3) tangibles; (4) reliability (see Figure 3.3).
Implementation process of service quality measurement is performed on the basis of distance
value between the perception (P) and expectation (E) of the customers for four factors when
using banking services.

Staffs

Access
Service
quality

Satisfaction of
customers' needs

Tangibles

Reliability
Figure 3.3: Experimental model of service quality measurement
11


CHAPTER 4

RESEARCH RESULTS OF MEASURING
QUALITY OF FINANCIAL - BANKING SERVICES
IN VIETNAM’S COMMERCIAL BANKS
4.1. OVERVIEW OF RENDERRING FINANCIAL - BANKING SERVICES OF
COMMERCIAL BANKS IN VIETNAM
4.1.1 Funds generation
Previously, fund generation services of Vietnam banking system was mainly expressed
in the form of basic types of services to meet the essential needs of the customers; however, at
the present time, with the increasingly high pressure of competition amongbanks along with
expansion activities of commercial banks in Vietnam, this service is developing continuously
and diversely in terms of both breadth and depth.
Therefore, from the constant development of the funds generation groups, sales of
economy mobilization in the period of 2009 - 2014 has continuously grown over the years.
Table 4.1 Total sales of economy mobilization in the period of 2009 - 2014
Unit: trillion VND; %
Year
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013

2014
Total sales (thousand billion VND)
1,799
2,451 2,754 3,247 3,728 4,457
Growth rate (%)
29.8
36.2
12.4
17.8
14.8
19.6
Source: Synthesis of Annual reports and Reports of the State Bank of Vietnam
4.1.2 Funds utilization
The development of different types of services of commercial banks in Vietnam has
helped boost business activities of the banking system over the years with certain growth rate.
However, similar to types of fund generation service, the development of fund utilization
services in commercial banks are affected by legal elements of the State bank of Vietnam and
macroeconomic regulatory policies; thus, total outstanding balance of the economy tends to
decrease during the period of 2009 - 2011 and increase gradually in the period of 2011-2014.
Table 4.2 Total outstanding balance of the economy in the period of 2009 - 2014
Unit: trillion VND; %
Year
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Total outstanding balance
1,869

2,475
2,839
3,090
3,477
3,970
(trillion VND)
Growth rate (%)
37.5
31.2
14.7
8.9
12.5
14.1
Source: Synthesis of Annual reports and Reports of the State Bank of Vietnam
4.1.3 Charged services
Forex trading service
In recent years, along with the trend in the global economy, foreign exchange
operations of the commercial banks in Vietnam have had many positive changes. In addition
to traditional forex trading services such as the exchange and sale of foreign currency to meet
the needs of domestic and international customers or repayment, etc.,some commercial banks
in Vietnam such as BIDV, Vietcombank, Eximbank, ACB, Sacombank, Techcombank, etc.,
12


begin expanding some type of modern forex trading services such asspot foreign currency
sales and purchase and term foreign currency sales and purchase, foreign currency swap,
foreign currency option, remittance payment and foreign currency exchange and constantly
expand network of banking partners in the international market.
In term of the remittance payment service, in order to meet the demands of customers,
Vietnam's commercial banks have increased cooperation with organizations around the world

to deploy multiple channels of remittance with richness and diversity form of money transfer
systems such as Western Union, MoneyGram, MoneyTrans, IME, Express money, Chinatrust,
etc.,. Especially, since 2003, the State bank of Vietnam has allowed the commercial banks to
establish more remittance companies of legal status and independent accounting with its own
capital to the expanded branch networks which have created more favorable conditions for
customers to receive remittances.
Domestic payment services
Since non-cash payment policies issued by the government and the State bank of
Vietnam was implemented, in particular in accordance with Directive 20/2007/CT-TTg dated
August 24 2007 of the Prime Minister on the paid subjects from the state budget, domestic
payment services by banks have developed relatively stably, met the needs of users, economy
and in line with the trend of international integration, accuracy, safety and security.
Besides, a new payment method has emerged and been commonly applied in Vietnam
since late 2008 as e-wallet.
In a nutshell, it is shown from the non - cash payment service deployment process to
customers under the Government's policy to date that activities of non-cash payments have
had many positive changes, met payment needs of the economy. The proportion using cash
over total payment method decreased gradually over the year, from 21.5% in 2009 decreased
to 11.9% in 2014.
Table 4.3 Payment proportion over the economy in the period of 2009 - 2014
Unit: %
Year
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Cash
21.5

14.2
13.5
13.0
12.6
11.9
Non - cash
78.5
85.8
86.5
87.0
87.4
88.1
Source: Synthesis of the State bank of Vietnam's annual report, BVSC
International payment services
In recent years, the development of Vietnam's foreign trade has created favorable
conditions for the development of international payment services of banks. In addition to the
traditional types of service, the commercial banks in Vietnam continuously promote diverse
activities of international payment services. Up to now, these types of international payment
services in the banking system have been generally quite sufficient to meet the needs of
economic development in the trend of integration as well as the needs of people in
international payment activities.
Moreover, by following the guidelines of the State Bank of Vietnam on the growth of
credit activity on loans to finance export and import for import-export enterprises, some
positive impacts on sales growth of international payments have been achieved.
13


Table 4.4 International payment turn over of commercial banks in the period of 20092014
Unit: billion USD; %
Year

International payment
revenues (billion USD)
Growthrate(%)

2009
109.25

2010
129.15

2011
171.08

2012
228.29

2013
263.29

-14.39

18.22

32.47

33.44

15.33

2014

294.97
12.03

Source: Compiled from annual reports of Vietcombank in the period of 2009 - 2014
E-banking services
To increase the mean of non-cash payments, in addition to the traditional means of
payment such as payment order, payment collection, check, card payment, Vietnam's
commercial banks have also developed various types of e-banking services with convenient
features for customers. On the basis of application of modern technologies, many electronic
banking services with new value-added utilities service have been exploited and put into
operation, which enriches payment services and created competitive edge among banks such
as: Internet banking, Mobile banking, home banking, phone banking, etc., Through these
types, customers have been able to perform online transactions with banks 24/24 without
having to go to the bank.
In addition, the commercial banks extend cooperation or affiliation with the third
parties such as VietUnion, Payoo, China Union Pay, etc., to deploy the electronic banking
services with the aims ofminimizing investment costs, increasing competitiveness, utility in
the improvement of quality service, supporting the banks to ease the implementation of
payment via paper payment documents, create convenience for customers such as: Direct
Billing, Vn TopUp, ATransfer, VnMart, APayBill, Payoo, etc.,
Treasury services and other types of charged services
Besides the benefits of various types of electronic banking services for customers
above, Vietnam's commercial banks are also constantly developing and expanding types of
cash services by making practical services to meet increasing needs of people such as payment
and collection on behalf at the request of customers, gold or valuable papers keeping service,
tallying service, money exchange service for other denominations, foreign currency exchange,
testing counterfeit and real money, etc.,
Looking at business results of treasury services and other types of other charged services, sales
in the period of 2010 - 2014 tended to increase, particularly in 2012, due to Vietnam's
financial - banking market is in a time of unrest with many difficulties; thus, sales of most of

the banks tended to decrease. In case of comparing sales among banks, commercial banks
under the state's commercial bank block have higher sales higher than that of commercial
banks under non-state's commercial bank block. For the former block, Vietinbank has the
highest sales level compared to other banks within the block while Sacombank has the highest
sales over the years compared to other non-state's commercial banks.

14


Table 4.5 Sales of treasury services and other charged services in Vietnam's commercial
banks in the period of 2010 - 2014
Unit: million VND
Bank

2010
429,091
1,290,254
781,634
44,962
336,287
232,438
756,005

BIDV
Vietinbank
Vietcombank
Eximbank
Techcombank
ACB
Sacombank

2011
625,937
1,189,973
835,970
77,041
541,548
156,014
838,819

Year
2012
413,442
995,307
854,002
58,092
302,775
155,271
610,109

2013
769,330
1,055,118
1,008,730
39,316
321,204
168,585
777,944

2014

1,017,334
1,240,736
1,161,854
68,204
655,240
335,395
726,347

Source: Compiled from annual reports in Vietnam's commercial banks
4.1.4 Mixed services
Card services:
With the orientations of the State bank of Vietnam in developing means of non-cash
payments and development strategies of retail banking services of commercial banks, bank
card service since 2009 has always been warmly welcomed. Bank card service has become a
popular payment method, which is paid attention on developing by the commercial banks,
with rapid growth; by the end of 2014, it increased number of cards issued in 4 times versus
the end of 2009; ratio of bank card use verus other means of non-cash paymentstended to
increase.
To stimulate the use of the card, the Government issued Decision No. 2453/QD-TTg
dated December 27 2011 on approving the Project on boosting non-cash payment in Vietnam
in the 2011-2015 period. So, by the end of 2014, the number of cards issued by commercial
banks reached 80.07 million with 52 issuers and approximately 490 different card brands.
Table 4.6 Situation of bank card service developmentin the period of 2009 - 2014
Unit: million card; bank; card brand
Year
Accumulated cards
(millions):
Domestic cards (millions)
International cards
(millions)

Quantity of issuing banks
Number of card brands

2009
21.60

2010
31.70

2011
42.28

2012
54.90

2013
66.21

2014
80.07

20.03
1.63

29.50
2.20

39.55
2.73

50.68
4.22

59.87
6.34

72.11
7.95

34
210

39
234

43
290

48
339

50
350

52
490

Source: Synthesis of Reports of Vietnam Card Association
Besides the growth in the number of cards, the banks also focus on improving the
quality of services by increasing ability to pay for the card by issuing co-branded payment

cards with multi-application connecting to other organizations, such as schools, taxi
companies, airlines, restaurants, supermarkets, etc., and upgrading infrastructure, machinery,
equipment and technology for card payment operations. By the end of 2014, Vietnam's
15


financial market had 46 banks equipped with ATM/POS and 15,669 ATMs and 175,830 POS,
showing an increase of 57.24% and 380.14% respectively compared to the end of 2009.
Table 4.7 Total number of ATMs and POS in the period of 2009 - 2014
Unit: machine
Year
ATM (accumulated)
POS (accumulated)

2009
9,965
36,620

2010
11,969
53,952

2011
13,648
77,467

2012
14,448
94,580

2013
15,358
132,089

2014
15,669
175,830

Source: Synthesis of Reports of Vietnam Card Association
However, market share of ATMs in some banks in the period of 2012 - 2014 shows
shrink age trend such as: Dong A Bank, Sacombank, Techcombank ... This shows that the
banks in recent years have been restructuring its card business segment, which reduces
investment in network development or removes some ATM in the inefficient points to focus
on developing value-added service on the card. However, overall market share of Agribank
always led the market with 14.4% in 2014, followed by 13.3% for Vietcombank,11.9% for
Vietinbank, and finally the remaining banks with the lower market share.
Table 4.8 Market share of ATM and POS in commercial banks in the period of 2012 2014
Unit: %
Bank
Vietinbank
Vietcombank
BIDV
Agribank
Techcombank
Dong A
Sacombank
Other banks
Total

2012

12.7
12.7
9
14.5
8.6
7.7
5.4
29.4
100

ATM
2013
11.9
13.8
9.7
15.0
8.0
6.6
5.3
29.7
100

2014
11.9
13.3
9.3
14.4
7.7
7.0
5.3

31.1
100

2012
30.9
30.6
6.8
6.7
2.1
0.6
3.0
19.3
100

POS
2013
32.89
31.98
6.94
6.47
1.46
0.87
3.13
16.26
100

2014
32.96
31.61
8.16

5.89
0.81
0.51
2.64
17.42
100

Source: Synthesis of Reports of Vietnam Card Association
In term of POS market share, in 2014, Vietinbank stood at the first position with
32.96% , followed by, Vietcombank for 31.61%, and BIDV for 8.16%.
Bank insurance model (Bancassurance)
In Vietnam in recent years, cooperation activities between insurance companies and
banks have initially been gradually formed and developed. According to the survey results of
Nguyen Thi Nhung & ctg (2012), the current bancassurance activities are expressed in the
form of the following forms:
-

Banks act as insurance agents
Banks make capital contribution to establish insurance companies in the form of joint
ventures or joint stocks.
Banks establish directly under insurance businessor Insurance group establish directly
under banks to form financial services group.
16


This activity has been brought many benefits to insurance companies, banks and
insured people. From 2009 to date, in order to meet customers' demands, the banks and
insurance companies design and offer various types of bancassurance services which can be
divided into 3 basic groups as follows:
-

Traditional services.
Affiliated services.
Insurance services for banks itself

Thus, the bancassurance in Vietnam's market has appeared full of models from dealer
agreement to establishment of joint venture or single ownership in the form of parent subsidiary company or a financial group owning both banks and insurance companies.
Vietnam is a potential market for the development of Bancassurance.

4.2. MEASUREMENT RESULTS OF FINANCIAL - BANKING SERVICE
QUALITY IN VIETNAM’S COMMERCIAL BANK
4.2.1 Sample description
To cater for the analysis and evaluation of the scales, the data were collected directly
from customers who are using the services in Vietnam's commercial banks in the period from
June 2014 to September 2014 by delivering questionnaires to the customers when they made
transactions at the banks, at conferences and at their houses. After finishing the surveys, a total
of £ 794 questionnaires were collected. After screening, a number of questionnaires were
eliminated because customers did not respond incompletelyor the information were not true
answers; hence, there were 556 questionnaires satisfying the requirements.
This statistical result shows that the participants have used banking services for 3 years
or more while transactions made among 3 banks made up a sizable proportion in the survey.
This can prove high understanding level ofabout types of financial - banking services thereby
ensure reliability in analyzing and evaluating the situation of financial - banking service
quality in Vietnam's commercial banks.
4.2.2 Results of measurement and evaluation of financial - banking service quality in
Vietnam's commercial banks
Although the types of financial - banking service quality in Vietnam's commercial
banks in recent years have been developing strongly, the author made surveys about the
customers' perception ofservice quality when using banking services to reflect the quality of
banking services provided to customers. Analysis and evaluation process of situation of the

financial - banking service quality in Vietnam's commercial banks for measurement factors
through analyzing the average distance between the perception (P) and the expectations ( E) of
customers when they use banking services.
It can be seen from Table 4.9 that overall average distance (P - E) of 4 measurement
factors is expressed in negative value, indicating the perceived level of customers is lower
than expected when using the service provided by banks, in which the factor "Staffs" has an
average value of the largest distance (-0.98), followed by the factors "Reliability" (-0.79),
"Access" (-0.78), and "Tangibles" (-0.65). So, from the analysis results we can conclude that
17


the service quality of Vietnam's commercial banks has not currently met all the needs of
customers and they feel less satisfied with service quality especially the staff of the banks
concerned. In comparing the differences among the commercial bank groups, the research
results show that the factor " Access" of the state's commercial banks & joint stock
commercial banks has the lowest average distance (-0.64) while the remaining have an
average value greater distance than those of other commercial banks group. In other words, the
factor " Access" of the state's commercial banks & joint stock commercial banks has lower
dissatisfaction level of customers than that of the non - state's commercial banks, foreign
banks and joint venture and other credit institutions, while the 3 factors "Staffs", "Reliability",
and "Tangibles" have a higher level of dissatisfaction.
Table 4.9 Evaluation results of overall perception of service quality
Distance of perception of service quality(P - E)

Factor

Number
of
observed
variables

State's commercial
banks & joint stock
commercial banks

Non state's
commercial
banks

Foreign
banks &
joint
ventures

Other
credit
institutions

Total

Staffs
Access
Tangibles
Reliability

7
6
5
4

-1.02
-0.64
-0.68
-0.68

-0.98
-0.82
-0.64
-0.64

-1.13
-0.76
-0.63
-0.63

-0.97
-0.73
-0.58
-0.58

-0.98
-0.79
-0.65
-0.65

Moreover, the results of detailed analysis and evaluation for each observed variable for
each factor mentioned above show that there are main causes negatively affectingon the bank's
service quality as well as satisfaction of customers' needs as follows:
Staffs
It can be indicated from the results that catering staffs of Vietnam's commercial banks

remains certaindrawbacks affecting the bank's service quality.
Knowledge and skills of staffs working at the commercial banks are still limited.
Policy programs ofnew services are not timely updated. In the course of serving, the staffs do
not express their effective problem-solving skill in learning, leading and eliciting customers'
needs. For products and services with complicated rules for participation and contents, the
staffs do not know how to present to the customers.
In term of service attitude, it can be seen form the survey results that the staffs of
commercial banks do not portray positive attitude in serving customers. When approaching
customers, many staffs do not express their affable, enthusiastic, friendly and welcoming
attitude to the customers. When the customers have any troubles or complaints, etc., the staffs
do not show great concern and quick resolutions to the customers, etc.,
In term of working styles, the bank staff have not demonstrated professionalism yet.
Profession manipulation is still slow which makes the customers take a long time to wait in the
transaction process, even some of themmake mistakes in the working process such as
recording customers' information inaccurately, miscalculating interest or making insufficient
payment for customers, etc.,
In addition to the above issues, appearance of the staffs serving customers has not been
highly appreciated.
18


Facilities, equipment and technology
Premises, furniture, counters, etc., at some commercial banks have not been really
spacious with narrow transaction area which creates uncomfortable feeling for the customers
to conduct transactions. In addition, machinery and equipment such as computers, electronic
information boards, ATM, etc., are old without being upgraded synchronously.
Regarding to staffs' outfit, most of the banks are offering costumes by its own style and
colorto represent elements of cultural identity and specific brand identity; however, the
investment in equipment at some commercial banks are not highly appreciated by the
customers, from the quality of fabric, color to the combination of colors in the same outfit.

Relating to technological factor, the level of investment and application of modern
technology among the current commercial banks still exist many difficulties. For banks with
high levels of investment, they have not yet fully exploited inherent features of the system
while banks with low investment levels due to limited financial capacity tend to have
difficulties inexpanding and increasing the utility of these types of products and services.
When deploying associated types of cooperation among the banks, the connection between
banking systems also has drawbacks.
Particularly for payment services, technical infrastructure to serve development of
payment operations has been uneven, mostly concentrated in cities, urban areas without fitting
to the countryside and mountains. Therefore, the majority of people do not have access to the
services and facilities of modern payment.
In addition, Internet bandwidth system connecting points of transaction and the
Headquarters across the system is still limited which greatly impacts on the implementation
process for customers such as frequent transmission dropouts, slow core banking system
access and transaction processing, unsuccessful transaction when customers withdraw money
from ATMs or making transactions via Internet banking, etc.,
Products, services and pricing polices
It is shown from the survey that diversity of types of products and services provided by
banks is still limited, the packages of products and services launched by the banks fail to meet
high demand level of society due to inability to promote theinherent features to. Most features
and benefits of different types of products and services remain anonymous mass, without
showing on-demand characteristics of each customer group or specific features to each
regional area and career. At the same time, mechanisms and policies to promote the
development of products and services have not been synchronized without motivating the
customers to use.
Same as above, product and service policies, interest rates and service charges by the
commercial banks also would not really meet the needs of customers. Although the
commercial banks have made great efforts to improve and develop the product and service
policies by customer groups, there have not been many excellent differences among
commercial banks. For the case of interest rates and service charges, the survey results show

that services with competitive rates and reasonable service charge provided by the banks are
one of the priority criteria in selecting banks to make transactions. Therefore, to entice or
attract customers, the banks have mainly applied competitive interest rates and service
charges.
19


Procedures of services rendering
In banking operations, all activities of all banks must comply with the internal
procedures, rules and regulations, and banking law issued by the government to ensure the
safety and limit risk. However, the application of prescribed processes related to the supply of
products and services and business process are often quite cumbersome, complicated, time
consuming resulting in dissatisfaction of customers in many cases.
Distribution channel network
Although Vietnam's commercial banks are diversifying its various types of distribution
channels, from the traditional channels level 1, level 2, level 3; collaborators, association with
businesses outside the industry to application of modern technology such as ATMs, Internet
banking, SMS banking, Mobile banking, Phone banking, they have not satisfied customers'
demand yet.
For traditional distribution channels, the majority of points of transaction of current
Vietnam's commercial banks are mainly concentrating in the urban areas densely populated; as
a result, any remote customers in rural areas often find it difficult getting access to the banks.
In addition, because most of the customers using banking services are currently workers, some
banks implement extra curricular activities to create convenient conditions for customers;
however, due to limited arrangement of extra curricular with concentration in the commercial
center, supermarkets, railway stations and airports, it is hard for the banks to attract many
customers.
For modern distribution channels, since the majority of customers are older people,
aging 40 or more with less routine use and performance of transactions such as money
transfers, payment services,account settlement, etc., on the modern trading system such as Ebanking, ATM, POS, etc., while the promotion work on guiding customers on how to use or

carry out transactions of this type of service is still limited, this distribution channel has not
attracted more customers yet.
Promotional activities and customer services
The study results show that promotional activities to customers of most commercial
banks in Vietnam are still limited and have not created the charismatic and deep impression to
customers, even those banks still have confusion about the brand from customers such as
Sacombank, SCB, etc.,
When implementing programs and policies to new products and services, most of the
promotional activities of banks rarely inform directly time to deploy services but they are
mainly expressed in the form of bandroll hanging, building standee at the points of transaction
of banks; thus, the banks fail to obtain broad level of information to each customer, many
customers still do not grasp timely information about the features and benefits of products and
services to be deployed. When wishing to use banking services, customers themselves often
have to actively seek out information through channels such as the Internet, friends, or directly
meet the staffs, etc.,
In addition, forms, brochures, etc., are not designed in an impressive way; materials for
instruction do not show information in a clear and understandable manner which lead to more
than 60% of customers over the age of 40 without much knowledge and habits using different
20


types of banking services such as Internet banking, mobile banking, SMS banking, etc., have
many difficultiesusing the service.
Customer services activities of the banks generally remain anonymous mass,
sometimes incompatible with each specific customers. Market surveys and researches, surveys
of habits of each group of customers are not paid great attention; thus, the design of gifts,
customer care programs is still subjective without creating impression and satisfaction for the
customers. For customers, the feeling of being discriminated between VIP customers and
regular ones conducting transaction still exists.
Safety and reliability in service rendering

Although safety and reliability are consider one of the priority criteria in selecting the
bank to making transactions, reliability factor at present banks are still in adequate as a matter
of fact.
For the service rendering system, any mistakes or systematic errorsin the transactionare
common. The program or implementation or problems solution for customers tend to differ
from what the bank announced or committed with their customers.
Relating to human, serious compliance with the internal regulations of the banks and
the law of the staff (employees) are not currently high, especially the provisions relating to
professional ethics. This has made a huge impact on the reputation of the bank brand as well
assafe operation of financial market.
On the work of monitoring compliance with of internal regulations of the banks and
the state's regulations, although some joint-stock commercial banks have applied 3 - round
protection method, the work has not yet been implemented and closely synchronized.
4.3. IMPACTS OF FACTORS TO SERVICE QUALITY AND SATISFACTION OF
CUSTOMERS' NEEDS
The study of any impact of these factors on service quality and service quality itself on
the satisfaction of customers' needs was done throughanalysis of structural equation modeling
(SEM).
The assumptions set out in SEM test include:
- H1: There is a positive relationship between"Staff" and "Service quality".
- H2: There is a positive relationship between"Access" and "Service quality".
- H3: There is a positive relationship between"Tangibles" and "Service quality".
- H4: There is a positive relationship between"Reliability" and "Service quality".
- H5: There is a positive relationship between "Service quality" and "Satisfaction of the
customers' needs."

21


Staffs

0.93

0.90
Reliability
0.48
0.82

Satisfaction of
the needs

Service
quality

Tangibles
0.80

Access

Chi - square = 576.805; df = 291; P = 0.000;
Chi - square / df = 1.892; GFI = 0.927; TLI = 0.961
CFI = 0.965; RMSEA = 0.042
Figure 4.1: Testing results ofstructural equation modeling

SEM testing results show that the index measuring the appropriateness of the structural
model VBSQ are satisfactory (see Figure 4.1). Specifically as Chi-square/df = 1.982 <3; GFI
= 0.927> 0.9; TLI = 0.961> 0.9; CFI = 0.965> 0.9; and RMSEA = 0.42 <0.5. This can be
concluded that thestructural model VBSQ fit the datamarket.
Moreover, the results also show that all four factors have a positive impact on service
quality or in other words these factors have positive relationship with the service quality, in
which the factor "Staff" has much impact on the service quality under the estimate parameter

of 0.925, followed by factors "Access" (0.897), Tangibles" (0.816), and "Reliability" (0.800).
All estimate parameters of these factors are statistically significant (p value = 0.000 <0.05), so it
can be concluded that the initial assumptions initially set out statistically significant (see
Table 4.10).
Table 4.10 Testing results ofstructural equation modeling
Regression weight
Relationship description

Not
Standardized
standardized

Se

Cr

P value

Staff → Service quality

0.977

0.925

0.053

18.277

0.000

Access→ Service quality

0.823

0.897

0.044

18.594

0.000

Tangibles → Service quality

0.571

0.816

0.044

12.918

0.000

Reliability → Service quality

0.803

0.800

0.048

16.788

0.000

Service quality → Satisfaction of
customers' needs

0.392

0.482

0.039

9.920

22

0.000


Regression weight
Relationship description

Not
Standardized
standardized

Se

Cr

P value

Notes: Se: standard deviation; Cr: critical value; P: Statistical significance level
By considering the relationship between the service quality and "Satisfaction of
customers' needs" , standardized regression weight of the service quality for "Satisfaction of
customers' needs" is statistically significant (p value = 0.000 <0.05) with standardized parameter
estimates of 0.482. This proves that if the service quality increase by 1 unit, the level of
customer satisfaction will increase to 0.482 unit. R2 = 0.232 demonstrates the variability of
service quality explains 23.2% variability of satisfaction of customers' needs.
Although SEM analysis results show that the estimated coefficient of the model is
statistically significant, the author analyzes further via boostrap test through AMOS 22.0
software tools to assess the reliability of the estimated coefficients and the sustainability of the
VBSQ model.
With repeated sampling frequency in this study was selected as N = 1,000 times fromn
= 556 samples, the analysis shows that the estimated value tends to be close to the estimate of
the population, while the bias and standard deviation (Se) have very small values without
statistical significance; thus, it is able to conclude that the estimated values of the factors in the
structural model is reliable (see Table 4.11 ).
Table 4.11 Testing results of reliability of the model estimates
Se

Se (Se)

Average
estimate

Bias

Se
(Bias)

Staff → Service quality

0.021

0.000

0.925

0.000

0.001

Access→ Service quality

0.020

0.000

0.896

-0.002

0.001

Tangibles → Service quality

0.035

0.001

0.817

0.001

0.001

Reliability → Service quality

0.030

0.001

0.799

0.000

0.001

Service quality → Satisfaction of
customers' needs

0.037

0.001

0.480

-0.002

0.001

Relationship description

Notes:Se: standard deviation; Bias: difference; P: Statistical significance level

4.4. COMPARISION OF DIFFERENCE AMONG CUSTOMER GROUPS
In order to help managers get an overview of the service quality perception among
different customer groups to have orientations for activities accordingly, the author continue to
compare differences the service quality perception among different customer groups under the
following subcategories: (1) Gender; (2) age; (3) Income; (4) Education level. Each variable of
these subgroups will be divided into 2 groups. Specifically, the "Gender" is divided into
23