The 6-year journey of cashless payment explosion in Vietnam

Six years ago, few people imagined that one day, wallets would no longer need cash. At that time, scanning QR codes to pay for coffee, book a car, or shop online was still a strange experience for most consumers.

But today, with a smartphone and a bank account, Vietnamese people can live a whole day without using cash.

In 2018, the new interbank electronic payment system processed about 137 million transactions with a value of over VND 73 million billion. The number and average transaction value processed by the system reached over 544,000 transactions/day and over VND 289,000 billion/day, respectively.

In 2019, for the first time, Tuoi Tre newspaper coordinated with the Payment Department, the Communications Department of the State Bank, the E-commerce Association and Napas to organize the Cashless Day on June 16. At that time, the leaders of the State Bank assessed that electronic payment was the main trend, developing extremely quickly, but the difficulty was how to help those who had never used electronic payment overcome their hesitation when using the new payment method.

The meeting to announce Cashless Day June 16 was held on the morning of May 20, 2019.

"I think if they have used electronic payments once, they will definitely never want to go back to paying in cash," said Mr. Pham Tien Dung, deputy governor of the State Bank - then head of the Payment Department.

And indeed, after only 6 years, cashless payments in Vietnam have grown impressively.

By the end of 2024, total non-cash payments will reach 17.7 billion transactions with a value of VND 295 million billion, an increase of 56% in quantity and 32% in value compared to the end of 2023, according to statistics from the State Bank.

Banks also recorded impressive growth in cashless payments. At HDBank , in the period 2020-2025, the cumulative number of active cashless payment transactions exceeded 330 million transactions, the growth rate of the cumulative number of transactions from the end of 2020 to the end of May 2025 increased by nearly 1,300%, and recorded an increase of more than 5.4 million accounts in the period 2020-2025.

Overview of the workshop "Cashless society: policy and practice in Vietnam" on the morning of June 11, 2019

Also in the period 2020 - 2025, the number of active transactions of customers via HDBank digital channels exceeded 300 million transactions, the transaction value exceeded 5 million billion VND. From the end of 2020 to the present, the growth rate of the cumulative number of transactions is more than 1,500%, the growth rate of the cumulative transaction value increased more than 100 times.

Mr. Nguyen Hung Long - Deputy General Director of NAPAS - said that about 7 years ago, no one imagined that there would come a day when wallets would no longer be used for cash. Because for many people, especially young people, just going out with a smartphone and a certain balance in their account is enough to have breakfast, drink coffee, go to the market, take the bus, metro, watch movies, shop online...

People pay cashless when shopping at Co.opmart Cong Quynh supermarket, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.

The important thing is that payment by QR code, phone, etc. has changed people's consumer behavior a lot.

People can sit at home to buy goods online and pay online easily. In addition, the digitization of accounts, making payments by QR, mobile phones has created convenience for users and contributed to promoting economic development.

"In fact, cashless payments in Vietnam have caught up with countries in the Asian region such as China... In some ways, we are even ahead of developed countries. Like in Europe, the payment infrastructure of many countries is still mainly based on physical cards and accounts," said Mr. Long.

4. Visitors experience at Vietcombank 's booth at the workshop "Cashless society: policies and practices in Vietnam" on the morning of June 11, 2019

The bus with the message of Cashless departs in Hanoi from June 19, 2022, passing through provinces and cities

Mr. Pham Anh Tuan, Director of the Payment Department, State Bank, said that non-cash payments increase by an average of 30-40% per year.

Especially for payment via QR code, the number of transactions increases annually by over 100%, such as in 2024 it increased by 104% in quantity, and over 97% in value.

People pay with e-wallets and credit cards for daily bills such as phone top-ups, electricity and water bills, online ordering, hospital fees, etc.

The above figures show that most consumers have the habit of paying without cash, especially via QR code when buying goods and using services.

So, from the time when people were still hesitant about electronic payment methods and cashless payments, this payment method has now become more popular than ever. People buying a cup of coffee for only 15,000 VND, or eating a plate of banh cuon for 25,000 VND at a roadside stall are still encouraged by the seller to use their phone to scan the QR code instead of paying in cash because it is fast, convenient and does not require change.

Recently, this payment method has become even more convenient when a series of banks give sellers payment speakers to help sellers receive instant and accurate transaction notifications by voice without having to take screenshots or check manually.

Workers and visitors to the Cashless Market in Linh Trung 1 Export Processing Zone (HCMC) on the morning of June 12, 2022 experienced many utilities related to cashless payments, games, discounted food purchases...

During the past 3 months, from March 1 to May 31, Sacombank has given payment speakers to individual customers, small businesses, traders, and chain stores if the transaction turnover in the 3 months from the date of program registration reaches at least 30 million VND/month. Thanks to payment speakers, sales become faster and more convenient, while ensuring that transactions are accurately recorded in bank accounts.

The Cashless Festival on Le Loi Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City on the morning of June 17, 2023 attracted a large number of people to experience

Previously, Sacombank deployed the "share notification" feature on the Sacombank Pay application, helping customers easily share notifications of changes in payment account balances to up to 5 different users.

This feature is especially useful for managing business cash flow of shop owners, managing group finances or family expenses. Moreover, users have the flexibility to choose the sharing scope including only incoming money, outgoing money or the entire account balance.

Mr. Pham Tien Dung - Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam and Mr. Duong Anh Duc - Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee experienced cashless payment to buy Tuoi Tre newspaper at the Cashless festival and announced the promotion program focused on Shopping Season 2023 on Le Loi Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City on the evening of June 16, 2023.

Mr. Tuan said that in the past, if we went out without cash, we could not pay. In the present and future, all banking services are provided in the digital environment. Smartphones are the means of communication between customers and banks and service providers.

Many new technologies are applied. Many banks have deployed Apple Pay, Google Pay… and even with smart watches, we have Gamin Pay. So not only smart phones but also smart watches can make smart payments. People find it very convenient to pay and experience modern services.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long and delegates watch payments using biometric authentication technology at the NAPAS booth at the Cashless Day 2024 festival on Nguyen Hue walking street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.

Mr. Nguyen Hoang Long of NAPAS said that when taking the metro in Ho Chi Minh City, from February 14, passengers can use domestic NAPAS cards as well as international cards and e-wallets to pay when traveling on this metro line.

Just tap the NAPAS card on the control device at the entrance gate (tap-in) and after finishing the journey at the exit gate (tap-out), passengers have completed the payment transaction for the trip simply, quickly and very conveniently.

"When buying a bunch of vegetables at the market, customers pay by scanning a QR code. Or many people pay for a cup of coffee by using their smartphones to scan. So there is no reason why we cannot apply modern, convenient and safe payment methods on public transport infrastructure, especially the metro," Mr. Long emphasized.

It is a fact that along with the growth in cashless payments, cybercrime is increasing with unpredictable developments when using artificial intelligence and technology to apply tricks and fraud.

From July 1, 2024, the State Bank issued Decision 2345 on biometric authentication for large transactions, from VND 10 million/time or VND 20 million/day, applicable to individual customers. However, high-tech criminal organizations later transferred to organizational accounts to commit fraud.

To prevent the tricks and schemes of high-tech criminals, from July 1, businesses will not be able to conduct online transactions without verifying the biometric information of their legal representatives. This is a regulation of Circular 17/2024 of the State Bank regulating the opening and use of payment accounts.

Cashless Day 2024 at Nguyen Hue walking street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City attracts a lot of people to visit and experience

After this period, if the customer has not completed the above content, the bank will temporarily suspend the provision of payment/withdrawal services from payment accounts by electronic means to ensure compliance with the regulations of the State Bank.

For accounts of organizations and businesses, the bank will also require the legal representative of the organization to come directly to the bank to open an account. Any form of authorization such as authorizing someone to bring documents to open an account is not accepted.

Mr. Tuan said that to help prevent high-level crimes, the State Bank is drafting a new circular, in which a very new point is to prohibit the use of nicknames in opening accounts. Therefore, accounts must be specific numbers. Because opening bank accounts with nicknames can easily cause misunderstandings for the person transferring money. Recently, the State Bank has received many complaints from users who, after transferring money by mistake to a nickname, could not get their money back.