Rise in point-of-sale payments in Vietnam

Point-of-sale (POS) payment usage is rising in Vietnam, news website baotintuc.vn has reported.

Ha Vi, who runs a clothes shop in Ho Chi Minh City's Phu Nhuan district, said her shop is now equipped with three POS machines and they have significantly helped increase sales.

"Many customers want to buy a lot of things but do not carry sufficient cash with them. They will be more confident while spending, thanks to the POS devices," she said.

Vu Hong Du, Director of Agribank's Ly Thuong Kiet branch in the city's District 10, said many banks are stepping up the development of such services since more and more customers now use bank cards to pay their shopping, restaurant or make-up bills.

The banks are competing in providing these services, not only at trade centres and big stores but also at beauty salons, souvenir shops, hospitals and clinics, he said.

He added that his branch installed about 60 POS machines at different places this year, earning 750 million VND (34,400 USD) in the related service revenues. The branch has installed about 300 POS devices so far.

According to the State Bank of Vietnam's (SBV's) HCM City branch, the city currently has 31,600 POS devices operating at 16,400 places.

The number of bank cards are now around nine million citywide, with the annual growth rates of card turnover averaging 10 percent in the last few years.

Nationwide, there are more than 16,000 automated teller machines (ATMs) and 170,000 POS devices, providing payment services for a variety of areas including electricity and water rates, internet and broadcast charges, as well as insurance premiums.

While the SBV expected about 250,000 POS machines to be available nationwide by the end of this year, serving 200 million transactions annually, banks and enterprises are reportedly continuing to promote customers' use of card services.

Agribank and jewellery firm Doji have cooperated in a promotional programme, offering a price discount of 27 percent to customers who buy Doji products using the bank's Visa and MasterCard services.

Accommodation booking site Agoda is also favouring VietinBank's international credit card users, who book hotel rooms in Vietnam and Thailand between August 3 and 16 via www.agoda.com/vietinbank, with a discount of 8 percent.

Online service provider M_Service said more than 80,000 people have been using its "MoMo electronic wallet" to pay electricity, water and internet charges, as well as for cinema tickets and telephone bills, since the "wallet" was launched in June 2014.

About 500,000 downloads have been registered for this mobile application, which is connected with 23 domestic banks, the provider said.

Meanwhile, industry insiders advised that customers should carefully check their card payment invoices, and compare these with their accounts at banks, to assure that any electronic payment is accurate and secure.-VNA