Payment by Card in Vietnam mainly increase on the amount

Vietnam is forecasted to have great potential for e-payments. Illustrated: H.Diu

The statement was from experts at the conference on the Future of e-payments by card was held by the Research Institute of Trade (the Ministry of Industry and Trade) on November 22, 2016 in Hanoi.

According to the Vietnam Bank Card Association (VBCA), until December 31, 2015, in the market there were 40 of 51 banks which issued domestic cards, with the number of more than 81.85 million cards, in which most were debit cards.

For the domestic prepaid card, there are 14 of 51 banks that have issued this type of card with the number more than 2 million cards. The domestic credit card had 8 of 51 banks that issue this kind with over 256,000 cards on the market.

On the international card, there are 40 of 51 banks have issued it with the total number of accumulated international cards by the end of 2015 reaching 9.24 million cards, an increase of 16.23% compared to 2014, in which groups of foreign banks issued more than 645,000 cards.

Along with the increase in the number of cards being issued is the use and payment revenue growth. If in 2011 the use revenue was just 724,000 billion vnd and the payment revenue was 895,000 billion vnd, these numbers have changed in 2015 and become 1,637,000 billion vnd and 1,685,000 billion vnd respectively, and the growth was 126% and 88%.

Additionally,the automatic transaction channel (ATM) has slightly grown due to the banks focused on developing the POS system.

However, according to Dr. Le Huy Khoi, from the Research Institute of Trade (Ministry of Industry and Trade), the development of credit cards in the last few years was mainly in number but are not accompanied with fundamental changes in terms of quality, as well as strengthening of the cardholder transactions after the card is issued.

This had shown that although the number of cards have increased by 30 times from 2010 to 2015, however, the number of cards which were used in reality were only about 70 million cards. In the same time, there are only about 20 million people with bank accounts (only accounting for 20% of Vietnam's population), which means that each individual would own from 4 to 5 cards.

Moreover, the cost of card issuance in Vietnam is high. The total outstanding credit through card accounts for only a very small proportion of total outstanding credit for consumption of banks. In addition, enterprises’ e- payment by card is still limited.

The main cause of the problems was identified by experts as the policies which support the development of non-cash payment has improved a lot, but still lacks the breakthrough policies to create a leverage for payment instruments by card and electronic payment cards to develop more strongly.

Strong growth in card payments boosting Vietnam's economy: report The higher use of electronic payments helped consumption grow 0.22 percent in Vietnam in 2011-15, which translated ...

On this issue, Mr. Bui Quang Tien, the Director of the Payment Department of the State Bank said it is proposing an unified legal framework for the management, monitoring, and creating favorable conditions for various methods and means, for the emerging electronic payment systems; ensuring the security, safety and stable operation of the electronic payment system in Vietnam.