Non-cash payments becoming more popular in Vietnam

Vendors scan QR codes

Nguyen Van Chiem street in district 1 in HCM City had about 20 vending stall licensed by the municipal authorities and about 10 accept payments via MoMo e-wallets.

Ho Thu Hoa, an office worker, ordered an ice milk coffee cup and instead of paying cash, she opened the MoMo app on her smartphone, scanned the code and made a payment. VND12,000 was paid to the vendor at the phone number registered on the e-wallet. 

Vinh, 58, one of beverage shop owners on the street, said he was among the first service providers there accepting payments via e-wallets. The non-cash payment method helps to attract more customers, especially office workers.

Nga, an office worker in district 9, said she bought clothes and other items for family members to celebrate Tet and paid via mobile banking and QR codes. A lot of shops said that payments with QR code via banks’ Mobile Banking app enjoy a 10 percent discount.

“So, I can buy branded goods at reasonable prices and get discounts with non-cash payments,” Nga said.

Not only e-wallets such as MoMo and Moca owned by payment intermediary firms, but commercial banks have also jumped into the non-cash payment service market. Some banks have issued non-touch credit cards, allowing card holders to ‘wave to pay’.

Sacombank said it was the first bank in Vietnam implementing the contactless payment method with a Visa card, and QR quick payments with Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay and JCB.

A representative of BIDV (the Bank for Investment & Development of Vietnam) also said in the digital era there are many choices for payments. The bank has launched BIDV Pay+ developed on the QR Code technology, allowing customers to make payment for goods and services or to withdraw cash from ATM in a quick, safe and convenient way without physical cards.

Nguyen Dang Hung, deputy CEO of Napas, the national payment portal, said that the payment methods via mobile devices are becoming popular in Vietnam. Samsung Pay has been implementing payment services at POS, while Viettel, MobiFone and VinaPhone will be applying QR code payment method.

According to the State Bank of Vietnam, there are 18,170 ATMs, more than 294,000 POS and 101 million cards. About 80 percent of civil servants and officers now receive salaries via bank accounts.