Cashless payments are developing rapidly in Vietnam, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, with transactions via banks averaging US$40 billion per day, according to Pham Anh Tuan, Director of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)’s Payment Department.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has requested banks, branches of foreign banks, and providers of intermediary payment services to take steps to continue promoting cashless payment and the implementation of the national digital transformation programme.

VOV.VN - The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper held a press conference on May 26 in Ho Chi Minh City announcing the fourth edition of Cashless Day 2023, an initiative aimed at promoting non-cash payments in Vietnam.

The local banking sector, currently undergoing drastic restructuring, will have more opportunities to improve its financial capacity, learn modern business models and management from UK partners after the UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA) takes effect, according to banking insiders.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has issued a decision on digital transformation plan in 2022, under which all of the administrative procedures are to be handled online.

As many as 1.1 million people have so far used Mobile Money service, including nearly 660,000 in rural, mountainous, remote, border and island areas.

In the context of the extensive digitalisation of services and multidimensional impacts of COVID-19, the behavior and expectation of Vietnamese consumers have changed, turning digital payment into an evitable trend of the economy and their priority.

The second Vietnam Card Day was launched in Hanoi on April 16 with the theme of “Leading the way”.

A record of over US$1.3 billion was poured into Vietnamese startups in 2021 despite the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, helping the country rank third in the group of the most dynamic innovative startup ecosystems in Southeast Asia, only after Indonesia and Singapore.

Cashless payment has become more popular in all sectors, including restaurant and catering services, according to Winnie Wong, Mastercard’s Country Manager for Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.