Vietnam poised to introduce regulatory sandbox for fintech

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) will accelerate work on an experimental legal framework, or sandbox, for fintech activities in banking and cashless payments, says Governor Nguyen Thi Hong.

"Continued fintech and cashless payment booms around the world go hand in hand with expansions of digital economy, and Vietnam must introduce a legal framework," she told a cashless payment workshop in Hanoi on Friday.

The Vietnamese banking industry has achieved "positive results" in going digital. Average annual growth of mobile payments is over 90%; many banking services are already available online like opening payment accounts, registering for bank cards, money transfer, and savings depositing; and many banks see over 90% of transactions via digital channels.

In the year to the end of April, cashless payments in Vietnam surged by 69.7% in quantity and 27.5% in value year-on-year, according to Hong. Transactions via the internet soared by 48.39% and 32.76%, respectively.

The figures for transactions via mobile phones were 97.65% and 86.68%; and via QR code, 56.52% and 111.62%.

The total number of activated e-wallets increased by 10.37% compared to the end of 2021. The percentage of adults with payment accounts reached 66%. About 3.4 million accounts and 1.3 million new bank cards were opened online or via eKYC (electronic know-your-customer) models.

The SBV chief said among 1.1 million customers registered to use Mobile Money services as of this April, nearly 660,000 were in rural, mountainous, remote, border and island areas, accounting for more than 60% of the total.