Empowered by foreign capital, e-wallets flourish
With the increasing popularity of e-wallets, more foreign money is being poured into the business field.
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WebMoney launched its global version in Vietnam after five years of operation with features allowing remittances and shopping all over the globe, competing with e-payment methods provided by commercial banks and traditional e-wallets.
VietUnion with Payoo e-wallet has increased its capital to VND150 billion after transferring a 40% stake to NTT Data.
MoMo e-wallet announced it has a large distribution network with 3,000 transaction points, 100,000 retail points and 500,000 clients.
Experts estimate that Vietnam has 10 million users of e-wallets of 10 service providers on the internet and mobile device bases. Of these, Ngan Luong, Payoo and MoMo are the best-known names.
The State Bank of Vietnam has granted licenses to provide intermediary payment services to 1Pay JSC, including electronic payment, collection/payment, electronic money transfer and e-wallet.
Prior to that, it granted a license to provide intermediary payment services to WePay Co Ltd.
More commercial banks are joining hands with e-wallets to create more added value and utilities to customers. Vietcombank has expanded its cooperation with VietUnion to provide money pay-in/withdrawing service via Payoo.
Individual and institutional clients who have demand for making transactions on Payoo may choose convenience transaction channels at Vietcombank. On Payoo app, clients can pay up to VND50 million a day and withdraw VND20 million a day at maximum.
Some commercial banks have created e-wallets of their own. LienViet Post Bank, for example, has Vi Viet, the electronic payment portal and non-cash online payment tool which allows clients to pay bills and online shop. After one year of operation, Vi Viet had 1.2 million accounts by the end of April and 5,000 POSs throughout the country.
According to Vietnam E-commerce Association’s chair Nguyen Thanh Hung, about 20 e-wallets have emerged but only a few still exist. Meanwhile, bank payment services have stable customers thanks to the high number of depositors and service users.
However, with the high percentage of internet users (44% of population), 30 million Facebookers and 143 million mobile subscribers, e-wallets are a new trend in Vietnam. If banks don’t pay big money to renovate technology, the electronic payment market will fall into e-wallets and fintechs.
A representative of WebMoney Vietnam said WebMoney can also mobilize capital for startups and seek small investment opportunities besides its other features.
