There have been 75 suppliers of payment services through the Internet (Photo: VietnamPlus)
Hanoi (VNA) – The cashless payment market in the recent two years has witnessed fierce competitions among banks, which have boosted investment in digital banks, as well as between digital banks and e-wallet. However, the market still has big room for further exploitation.
The digital transformation in finance-banking sector has become more vibrant with the engagement of the majority of banks, thus helping increase cashless payment.
Latest statistics from the State Bank of Vietnam showed that there are 75 suppliers of payment services through the Internet and 45 others providing the service of payment via mobile phones.
In the last six months, the number of transactions through Internet were 200 million with total value of about 12.9 quadrillion VND (556 billion USD), up 36 percent over the same period in 2019. Meanwhile, over 472 million transactions were made through mobile phones with the value of about 4.9 quadrillion VND, showing respective year-on-year rises of 178 percent and 177 percent.
Besides, card payment has continued to be developed by banks. As of the end of June, the number of active bank cards was 106 million, a rise of about 14.5 percent over the same period in 2019. The number of domestic transactions through bank cards in the first half of this year was 171 million with total value of about 399 trillion VND, increases of 20.9 percent and 9.1 percent over the same period of 2019, respectively.
Along with bank card, credit organisations have paid great attention to the development of payment through QR Code, which is considered a flexible and fast option at reasonable cost to promote cashless payment among customers who are small retailers.
So far, about 30 banks have applied QR Code payment services at more than 70,000 shopping facilities.
As one of the pioneers in digitalization, the Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OCB) has seen rapid rise in cashless payment, especially through its OCB OMNI app. A representative from the bank said that in the first eight months of this year, nearly 1 million customers have registered to use the app.
As of the end of August, the bank processed 11 million online transactions, doubling the figures in the same period last year in both number of transactions and value. In August alone, 1.5 million online transactions were made, 2.5 times higher than the same time of 2019.
On the average, currently, the OCB OMNI system is dealing with about 50,000 transactions each day, three times higher than that in the end of 2019. Notably, transactions in savings, financial investment, insurance payment through the app have surged with the figure recorded in August being five times higher than that in the beginning of the year.
OCB OMNI app provides a diversity of services (Photo: VietnamPlus)
According to Nguyen Thien Tam, OCB Director for Digital Bank Strategy attributed the rise to the convenience of the services, which allows customers to use easily through Internet-connected devices. Particularly in the COVID-19 pandemic, customers tended to prioritise online transactions for safety.
He said that OCB OMNI has offered various promotions to customers along with more values, thus attracting increasing number of customers.
In October, the app will be personalized for each user, aiming to give the best experience to the customers, he said, adding that the Application Programming Interface (API) connection with any Fintech partner will help the app broaden its ecosystem and better meet customers’ demand.
Tam held that despite the fierce competition among banks and between digital banks and e-wallet in cashless payment market in the recent two years, there is still room for businesses to exploit the market.
He said OCB hopes the legal corridors for new banking services will be early completed, which he believes that will help boost the development of digital products./.
