On tree-lined Pasteur Street in Ho Chi Minh City something new is afoot in Vietnamese banking. Easily mistaken for just another of the city’s many coffee bistros, Timo Hangout, at No 194DE Pasteur, is the hip headquarters of Vietnam’s first neo-bank. The ground floor bustles with young Timo employees clad in purple jackets serving espressos and mobile phone bank services. Timo is just the cool tip of Vietnam’s retail banking iceberg.
“Our core demographic is about 25 to 35 years old, so it’s young professionals,” says Cameron Warden, CEO of Timo Hangout, who sports tattoos but no tie. “They don’t want to take a ticket and stand in line at a bank for half an hour during their lunch break.”
