The Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam has issued Document No. 6422/NHNN-TT requiring the SBV municipal and provincial branches to enhance cashless payments for public services.
SBV headquarters
Accordingly, in order to implement Resolution No. 02/NQ-CP of the Government dated January 1, 2019 on continuing to conduct measures of improving the business environment and the national competitiveness in 2019 and orientations to 2021; and Decision No. 241/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister dated February 23, 2018 approving the Scheme on promoting payments via banks for public services, including taxes, electricity, water use, education fees, healthcare and payments for the social security programs; following Document No. 2918/NHNN-TT dated March 29, 2019, the SBV Governor requires the SBV municipal and provincial branches to implement the following tasks:
Actively studying and advising the local People’s Committees and closely coordinating with the agencies and committees in their localities to effectively implement measures of enhancing non-cash payments for public services in accordance with Decision No. 241/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister and Decision No. 923/QD-NHNN of the SBV Governor with the priorities given to healthcare and education areas in the coming time, specifically as follows:
Collaborating with the local People’s Committees in their localities to advise and make recommendations on the formulation and issuance of the local People’s Committees’ action plans for the implementation of Resolution No. 02/NQ-CP and Decision No. 241/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister; these action plans are requested to contain specific measures and objectives, as well as requirements of deadlines and leading units responsible for the implementation.
Recommending and proposing that the local People’s Committees issue documents requiring the public service providers in their localities to develop IT system and softwares that are capable of connecting to of the banks’ and payment intermediaries’ systems, so that the local organizations and individuals could conduct non-cash payments for public services.
Recommending appropriate measures to the local People’s Committees and coordinating with the relevant departments/agencies and the public service providers in their localities to apply solutions of implementing cashless payments for public services, including schools, hospitals; and the public service providers announce their bank accounts so that the organizations and individuals can transfer money to pay for the public services (via mobile, e-banking,…); install POSs or apply QR code to allow parents, students, patients,... to use mobile or bank cards for payments; develop IT systems to make it convenient for users to access the internet and mobile applications and make payments through the banks’ payment utilities.
At the same time, the SBV Governor also requires the SBV municipal and provincial branches to instruct the credit institutions in their localities to implement the following tasks:
Considering and applying reasonable payment service fees and launch promotion programs to encourage the public service providers and customers to prioritize the use of non-cash payment services when making payments for public services;
Publicizing, fully and promptly guiding customers about the procedures, steps of operations and measures to ensure safety and security when making non-cash payment transactions in general and non-cash payments for public services in particular;
Promptly receiving and handling customers' complaints; in the process of implementation, if any problem arises, it must be identified, verified and checked for the cause(s), and the involved credit institution must closely coordinate with the relevant agencies/units to provide prompt feedback and explanations to their customers.
The SBV Governor also requires the SBV municipal and provincial branches to strengthen the coordination with the media and the press agencies, the credit institutions and the payment intermediaries in their localities to develop communication programs on promoting non-cash payments for public services, focusing first on healthcare and education.
Moreover, regularly updating and equipping themselves with knowledge about the laws, mechanisms, policies and guiding documents of the SBV about payment operations in order to organize the implementation; inspecting and actively monitoring the situation of the provision of payment and intermediary payment services for public services in their localities; and reporting to the SBV (via the Payment Department) on the difficulties and any arising problems for supervision, synchronisation and coordination with the relevant agencies/units to resolve.
Le Hang