Many banks are stepping up QR code payment on mobile phones (Source: Tpbank) Hanoi (VNA) – Digital banking will be the future of the Vietnamesebanking system, especially amid the development of the fourth industrialrevolution, according to experts.
In recent years, non-cash payment has been expanded in thecountry with various forms: via bank cards, mobile phones and mobile bankingapps, internet banking or e-wallets, with the payment by bank cards the mostcommon.
Dr. Nguyen Thi Thanh Van from the Banking Academy’s InternationalBusiness Faculty said that since the bank cards made debut in 1996, the numberof cards as of June 2016 exceeded 106 million, a 3.4-fold rise compared withthat of late 2010.
Most of the banks are providing internet banking services,and 16 organisations are supplying over 2.3 million e-wallet accounts.
Vietnam strives for 95 percent of banks offering internetbanking and mobile banking services, and 30 percent implementing digitalbanking, and all supermarkets, shopping centres and modern distribution centresallowing point of sale (POS) transactions, with over 300,000 POS devices to beinstalled.
Van said that orienting the development of digitaltechnology in the sector is essential, as technology can facilitate the use offinancial services.
According to the Nielsen Vietnam Smartphone Insight Report2017, the number of smartphone users in 2017 accounted for 84 percent of thetotal mobile phone users in Vietnam, up 10 percent from the previous year. Itmeans that Vietnam is potential to develop payment via mobile phones.
It is the reason why banks are stepping up QR code payment(QR Pay) on mobile phones. At present, consumers can make payment by using QRcode on mobile banking apps of many banks, including Vietinbank, Vietcombank,BIDV, Agribank, Techcombank, and OCB.
Agribank is one of the first to apply QR code paymentthrough its Agribank E-mobile Banking. Trinh Ngoc Khanh, Chairman of the bank’sBoard of Members, said that one of the important tasks for the bank in the nearfuture is to offer services based on high-tech platforms such as QR Pay,Samsung Pay and Autobank while improving services quality.
According to Pham Tien Dung, head of the Payment Departmentunder the State Bank of Vietnam, to boost the non-cash payment and encourage newforms of payments, the Government issued a decision approving a project to stepup payment of public services such as tax, electricity, water, school tuitionsand hospital fees on mobile phones.
Over the past two years, the application of non-cash and contactlesspayment methods in the country has risen. Statistics from the State Bank ofVietnam showed that financial transactions through mobile phones in 2017 roseby 81 percent while those made online also increased by 67 percent from theprevious year.
The country now has 78 organisations providing onlinepayment services and another 41 offering such services through mobile phones.
By the end of September 2017, the number of transactionsthrough mobile phones in Vietnam topped 90 million, with a total value of 423trillion VND (18.63 billion USD).-VNA
VNA
