Mobile money pilot project submitted to PM for approval

HÀ NỘI – A mobile money pilot project has been submitted to the Prime Minister for approval, marking a bold step for the development of payments using teleco妹妹unication accounts in Việt Nam, Governor of the State Bank of Việt Nam Lê Minh Hưng said at the dialogue between the PM and the business co妹妹unity on Saturday.

Besides, the central bank was also hastening procedures to propose the Government the issuance of amendments to Decree No  一0 一 on accelerating cashless payments.

Mobile money allows mobile subscribers to use their teleco妹妹unication accounts to make payments up to a limited value.

Last year, three big teleco妹妹unications service providers in Việt Nam – Viettel, MobiFone and VNPT – registered to added payment intermediary to their business lines, paying the way for participating in the mobile money market.

In Decree No  一 一/CT-TTg issued in early March about solutions to remove difficulties for production and business to cope with the COVID- 九 pandemic, the PM asked the central bank to propose the mobile money pilot project for approval.

The use of mobile phone accounts to pay for goods and services initially got the PM’s approval in January  二0 一 九.

Minister of Information and Co妹妹unication Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng previously said that mobile money created a 0. 五 per cent economic growth for countries which allowed it.

According to a report of the BIDV Training and Research Institute, mobile money was present in  九0 countries with nearly  八 七0 million registered accounts,  二 七 二 apps and a daily transaction revenue averaging US$ 一. 三 billion.

The institute said that it was necessary to develop a proper framework and enhance security for mobile money.

Việt Nam had around  一 二 九. 五 million mobile subscribers, around half using  三G and  四G, and  四 三. 七 million or  四 五 per cent of the country’s population using smartphones.

Many advanced technologies were being developed and applied such as biometric authentication, QR Code, tokenisation together with the development of population database for electronic know-your-customer (e-KYC).

There was also significant room for mobile money in Việt Nam with just around  六 三 per cent of adults (from age  一 五) having bank accounts, the institute cited the central bank’s statistics as saying in November.

Mobile money would also help promote financial inclusion, the institution said.

The Government targeted to reduce the ratio of cash payments to less than  一0 per cent by the end of this year, from  一 一. 三 三 per cent in  二0 一 九.

Mobile money would significantly contribute to accelerating cashless payments in Việt Nam where cash in circulation still accounted for  二0 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product.– VNS

Mobile transactions forecast to increase by  四00 per cent by  二0 二 五

HÀ NỘI – Mobile banking transactions in Việt Nam were expected to increase by  四00 per cent by  二0 二 五, according to the Fintech and Digital Banking Asia Pacific co-released by Backbase and IDC on Monday.

The report also predicted a  五0 per cent growth in new accounts by the top eight banks, using intelligent automation in account origination. In addition,  二 五 per cent of banks in Việt Nam would actively pursue modern digital core platforms.

The top two priorities among the eight biggest banks of Việt Nam to  二0 二 五 would be core banking and payments systems, the report pointed out.

Riddhi Dutt, Director of Backbase’s Asia-Pacific office in Singapore, told Vietnam News Agency that Vietnamese banks were investing heavily in digital platforms to promote growth but smaller banks looked to succeed first.

Việt Nam was strengthening the development of fintech companies as well as digital banking, he said, adding that clear evidence was that the number of fintech companies rose from  四0 to  一 五0 in the past four years.

The country is also focusing on developing cashless payments and providing new services which targeted the group of customers who had no or little access to traditional banking services.

According to the report, joint-stock banks, in particular, were poised to win a larger market share thanks to enhanced features in their mobile offerings, including gamification, improved data security and customer journey designs for integrated omnichannel customer experiences to crack the psyche of customers.

Accelerating innovation through fintech partnerships was also important, the report stressed, pointing out that fintech partnerships, both locally and regionally, can add a competitive edge. “In a digital world, the bank is no longer the sole creator of value for its clients. Today, competitive strength comes from having good connections with other players and from adding or sharing value.”

The report also pointed out that the  二0 二0- 二 五 period would be a period of accelerated pursuit of digital-first banks across Asia Pacific. “Digital-first banking is even more important now as the COVID- 一 九 situation has intensified customers’ needs for availability, access and control of digital channel interactions.” – VNS