Protecting customers using banking services

Attending the Conference, there were representatives from the SBV entities, the SBV municipal and provincial branches, the credit institutions, the payment intermediary service providers, Vietnam’s Banking Association, as well as representatives from the relevant Ministries and economic experts,…

Biometric authentication is an additional protective shield.

Delivering his opening speech, Deputy Governor Pham Tien Dzung emphasized that since the beginning of the year, the SBV has issued several legal documents, including Decision No. 2345/QD-NHNN on the implementation of the solutions to enhance the safety and security in online and bank card payment. The banking sector has also implemented multiple solutions, including a lot of communication activities to provide warnings and recommendations to customers.

“Decision No. 2345/QD-NHNN aims at cleaning all payment accounts, deleting unauthenticated accounts. There will be no banking accounts that use fake identification documents.” Deputy Governor Pham Tien Dzung said.

An overview of the Conference

“Only 8% of the total number of transactions will require biometric authentication, while the remaining 92% of the total number of transactions are low-valued transactions, and thus there will be no congestion. Some cases of partial congestion that happened on July 1 had been promptly resolved. By July 2 and July 3, basically all of the transactions had been conducted smoothly," Deputy Governor Dzung added.

According to the SBV Deputy Governor, it is critical to implement the biometric authentication, and it would be obviously safer to have an additional protective shield. “Biometric authentication is an additional protective shield, and it will be safer for customers because the banks would not skip any step of protection. The situation of hi-tech crimes is getting more complicated and I believe that technology must constantly be improved to better protect customers’ assets," Deputy Governor Dzung emphasized.

Speaking at the Conference, Mr. Trieu Manh Hung, Deputy Director General of the Department of Cyber ​​Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention, highly complimented the SBV for having issued Decision No. 2345/QD-NHNN. This Decision would contribute not only to protecting the safety in the customers’ payment transactions, but also to further improving the effectiveness in preventing hi-tech crimes in the cyberspace.

For the banks’ side, Ms. Doan Hong Nhung, Head of the Retail Division at Vietcombank, said that, Decision No. 2345/QD-NHNN would help strengthen the safety and security for customers using the banks’ mobile apps. According to Ms. Nhung, it would be extremely difficult for the banks to control their customers’ behaviors and protect their customers on the digital channels without the close direction and guidance of the SBV over the past time, especially with the issuance of Decision No. 2345/QD-NHNN.

According to the statistics, during 16 days from the update of to the new software with biometric authentication requirements, Vietcombank has recorded 8.5 million transactions using biometric authentication. On July 1, Vietcombank had deployed the biometric authentication, together with the electronic authentication service provided by the Ministry of Public Security. From June 18 to July 4, Vietcombank had recorded nearly 1.9 million customers who had completed biometric authentication successfully.

Ms. Doan Hong Nhung, Head of the Retail Division at Vietcombank, speaks at the Conference

Preventing cyber-crimes needs active involvement of all related parties

Under the chairmanship of Deputy Governor Pham Tien Dzung, the experts discussed and recommended possible solutions to prevent cyber-crimes.

Talking at the Conference, Lieutenant Colonel Trieu Manh Tung, Deputy Director General of the Department of Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention under the Ministry of Public Security, assessed that the number of cases and the intensity of cyber-crimes and cyber frauds could increase in the coming time. Therefore, Lieutenant Colonel Tung proposed that the SBV and the commercial banks need to implement strongly Decision No. 2345/QD-NHNN to ensure the safety in the electronic transactions. He also said that it is necessary to develop a coordination mechanism among the Ministry of Public Security, the SBV, and the commercial banks. Moreover, the commercial banks also need to disseminate information, educate and raise the awareness of their officers, staff and customers, as well as warn them about the tricks of cyber fraudsters.

Lieutenant Colonel Trieu Manh Tung, Deputy Director General of the Department of Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention under the Ministry of Public Security, speaks at the Conference

From a lawyer’s perspective, Lawyer Truong Thanh Duc advised that people should carefully consider between the utilities and the risks. Especially, in the current context that cyber-frauds are increasingly becoming a serious issue, it is crucial to verify customer identities in line with Decision No. 2345. For customers, in order to ensure the safety and security of individual information and assets, the users of banking services need to authorize biometric authentication to protect themselves, first and foremost.

Sharing at the Conference, Mr. Luu Danh Duc, Deputy General Director responsible for Information Technology of Saigon-Hanoi Joint-Stock Commercial Bank (SHB), said that the banks have been making enormous efforts to use various technical measures to prevent frauds and protect their customers. The SHB has developed a defense system to prevent cyber-attacks to ensure maximum protection of customers' information and assets.

To thoroughly address the issue of frauds via mobile apps, the SHB’s representative emphasized that the communication and education must be strongly implemented through various channels to improve the people’s awareness. He also proposed that the relevant parties formulate as soon as possible the necessary regulations, procedures, and mechanisms for the coordination among the Ministry of Public Security, the SBV, the commercial banks, and the intermediary payment service providers, in order to promptly prevent money transactions by cyber fraudsters.

According to the BIDV’s representative, the SBV should provide the banks with guidance on the steps for standardizing the biometric authentication and e-KYC, thereby formulating common standards applied to all of the banks. In parallel with that, the SBV, the Ministry of Public Security, the commercial banks, the relevant Ministries and agencies, and the media agencies should all coordinate and make plans for raising customers’ and the people’s awareness.

In the coming time, in order to enhance the safety and security of online banking services, contributing to protecting customers using banking services, the SBV would focus on conducting the following key tasks:

First, continuing to improve and promptly issue legal documents, circulars amending and supplementing regulations enhancing the safety and security of online banking transactions; implementing effectively Decision No.2345/QD-NHNN in order to ensure the safety and security in payment transactions in particular, and in banking services in general.

Second, continuing to invest in and improve the IT infrastructure of the credit institutions and the intermediary payment service providers; upgrading and developing the payment infrastructure to ensure smooth, safe and sound operations and connections with other relevant sectors and fields, such as public utilities, education, healthcare, e-commerce, etc., as well as connections for cross-border payments to meet the demand for using diversified banking services.

Third, continuing to coordinate with the Ministry of Public Security in the implementation of Scheme 06, focusing on the use of the chip-based citizen identification cards and VNeID accounts to verify customer identities, ensuring the prevention of risks and against criminals taking advantage of banking services for fraudulent acts.

Fourth, strengthening the information security and safety in the payment transactions; coordinating with the relevant authorities to prevent, detect and take actions against high-tech crimes, protecting the customers’ legitimate rights and interests.

Fifth, promoting the communication and financial education to improve the awareness and the skills for the public, especially the people in the rural and remote areas, the youth and students.

LH - HY