At the Seminar on "Promoting the development of domestic credit cards in Vietnam" co-organized by the Payment Department of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), in collaboration with the Lao Dong Newspaper and the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam (NAPAS) on March 11, 2022, the participating policy-makers and experts all affirmed the important role of the communication activities, so that the people give priority to using Vietnam-branded credit card products, contributing to promoting non-cash payments and implementing the national financial inclusion strategy in Vietnam.
The Seminar was chaired by SBV Deputy Governor Pham Tien Dzung, with the co-chairs being Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hien, Member of the Presidium of Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, Editor-in-Chief of the Lao Dong Newspaper, and Mr. Nguyen Quang Hung, Chairman of NAPAS. Also attending the Seminar, there were representatives from the Payment Department of the SBV, Vietnam Bank Card Association, leaders of a number of commercial banks, and banking experts.
Overview of the Seminar.
According to Decision No. 1813/QD-TTg by the Prime Minister approving the Scheme on developing non-cash payments in Vietnam in the 2021-2025 period, which mentions the need to promote bank card services and to provide other value-added services; focusing on completing the transformation from magnetic stripe cards to chip cards, ensuring security and safety in card payments, providing value-added services, and facilitating the connection with other payment systems; studying and applying the achievements of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR4.0) to diversify the payment products and services (including bank card services) on the digital platforms, ensuring safety and security, and ensuring convenience for users.
Accordingly, as of December 31, 2021, 12 over 46 card issuers had issued domestic credit cards (an increase of 50% in terms of the number of issuers compared with that of 2019). The total number of domestic credit cards in circulation as of December 31, 2021 was over 475,000 (increased by 61.7% as compared to the end of 2019). In the 5-year period between 2017 and 2021, the growth in the number of domestic credit cards reached 23.2% per annum, higher than the growth of the international credit cards (which was 17.18% per annum).
At the Seminar, many experts affirmed the important role of the communication activities so that the people give priority to using Vietnam-branded credit card products, contributing to promoting non-cash payments and implementing the national financial inclusion strategy in Vietnam. With the policy of flexible adaptation to the practical situation in the context of the complicated developments of COVID-19, the banks and their customers have faced many challenges with the consumption habits, but this has also offered an opportunity to enhance and accelerate the people’s accessibility to cashless payment services, and to control black credit.
Regarding the field of credit card issuance, most Vietnamese banks are applying the procedures with the specific steps of: registration, finalizing the dossier; evaluation by the bank against the dossier and assessment of the client; decision by the bank on approving the credit and issuing the card; handing the physical card to the client and the client will activate and use the card. The representatives of the commercial banks also mentioned the need to raise card users’ awareness of information security. The participating experts expressed the opinion that the card users need to pay high attention and manage their risks through the tools provided by the banks, especially for online transactions.
Speaking at the Seminar, SBV Deputy Governor Pham Tien Dzung emphasized that communication is an crucial pillar in promoting non-cash payments and financial inclusion in Vietnam. In his concluding remarks, the SBV Deputy Governor believed that once customers have become familiarized with non-cash electronic payments, they would definitely never return to using cash, unless necessary. But in order to convince them to use cashless payment for the first time, it requires very effective communication and awareness raising. The SBV Deputy Governor requested that, in the coming time, the card issuers and the relevant entities closely coordinate with one another, focusing on and effectively implementing the operations related to domestic card issuance, such as the promotion of communication activities; actively accelerating the digitization of card products and banking services; expanding the networks of card acceptance points in various areas; continuing to promote the use of non-cash payments and credit card payments in the rural and remote areas in association with the National Financial Inclusion Strategy, creating favorable conditions for the disadvantaged people in the society to access and utilize modern banking services, ensuring a balanced and harmonious development of the whole economy, as well as the whole of Vietnam.
SBV Deputy Governor Pham Tien Dzung also requested the card issuers and NAPAS to pay high attention to ensuring security and safety of the card system; ensuring the legitimate rights and benefits of card users.
LK