State Bank of Vietnam Reports Progress in Cashless Payments Adoption

The State Bank of Vietnam is working to expand the use of cashless payments in rural areas.

Thus far, mobile money, one of the financial solutions in Vietnam’s cashless payment system, has expanded to 72,000 point-of-sale (POS) locations across the country, with more than half of them being in regions that are remote, rural and isolated, Vietnam Economy News said in a Wednesday (Dec. 28) press release .

“It has been tremendous progress, given our starting point several years back,” Pham Anh Tuan, head of the State Bank of Vietnam’s (SBV’s) financial transaction department, said in the release.

The SBV has been working since 2015 to allow residents of remote and isolated communities greater access to the banking system. For example, it has allowed several remote payment companies working with commercial banks to bring cashless payments to such regions, according to the press release.

Over that time, customers have developed greater appreciation of digital banking and have accounted for an upward trend in the number of new accounts being created in Vietnam’s island and mountainous regions, the release said.

As of the end of September, there were 2.34 million Mobile Money accounts, 1.62 million of which were located in rural communities. Beyond that, Mobile Money now covers 14,500 vendors and has handled 15 million transactions, per the report.

To encourage the continued growth in adoption of cashless payments, the SBV is encouraging local governments to establish digital markets for popular commodities, thereby helping residents adopt digital payments and overcome their cash-based spending habits and their reluctance to try new technologies.

As PYMNTS reported Nov. 10, digital banking platform Temenos said it is working with Vietnam’s Sacombank to offer the bank’s 15 million customers “a seamless omnichannel experience.”

For example, the Temenos platform will let Sacombank connect with eCommerce providers, social networks and other online services to help foster a cashless ecosystem.

“The omnichannel platform project is an unavoidable step to make a breakthrough in the digital business of Sacombank,” Bui Van Dung , the bank’s deputy CEO, said at the time.

In July, HDBank and Unilever Vietnam partnered to offer financing and banking services to distributors and retailers and to enable customers to make cashless payments on their smartphones.