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‘To build a bank in Vietnam was very enticing’: The Singaporean turning Techcombank into an AI-first lender

The private bank’s first-ever chief data officer bets on cross-ecosystem data sets, proprietary AI models

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Jamille Tran

Jamille Tran

Published Fri, May 15, 2026 · 01:25 PM
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    • Santhosh Mahendiran believes that Techcombank's ability to hyper-personalise its offerings using data drawn from its ecosystem is a key competitive advantage.
    • Santhosh Mahendiran believes that Techcombank's ability to hyper-personalise its offerings using data drawn from its ecosystem is a key competitive advantage. PHOTO: TECHCOMBANK

    The strategies and stories that shape today’s leaders

    [HANOI] When Santhosh Mahendiran arrived in Vietnam from Singapore in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, he stepped into a role that barely existed in the country’s banking landscape.

    Vietnam’s third-largest private lender by total assets, Techcombank, had hired him to build a data-driven banking operation from scratch, making him one of the first chief data and analytics officers in a Vietnam bank.

    The Leadership PlaybookVietnamBankingFinancial servicesAsean BusinessAseanAsia-Pacific

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