Vietnamese people make 5.5 billion cashless transactions in the first quarter of 2025

87% of adults in Vietnam have a bank account

This morning, June 14, the opening ceremony of the Cashless Festival - Ting Ting Day 2025 with the theme "Cashless payment promotes digital economy " officially opened at Nguyen Hue walking street (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City).

The opening ceremony was attended by Mr. Ho Duc Phoc - Deputy Prime Minister, Associate Professor, Dr. Vu Hai Quan - Member of the Party Central Committee, Director of Ho Chi Minh City National University. Representatives of central ministries and branches attended by Mr. Pham Tien Dung - Deputy Governor of the State Bank; Ms. Phan Thi Thang - Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade ; Mr. Nguyen Huy Ngoc - Head of Department of Localities 3, Central Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Commission...

Mr. Ho Duc Phoc - Deputy Prime Minister experienced the new payment utility at the Cashless Day 2025 held on June 14 in Ho Chi Minh City.

Immediately after the opening ceremony, the workshop “Cashless payment: Driving force for digital economic growth” took place at Rex Hotel (HCMC). The workshop was the place to summarize the implementation of the Project on developing cashless payments in Vietnam for the period 2021-2025 according to Decision 1813/QD-TTg on developing cashless payments. Speaking at the workshop, Mr. Pham Tien Dung - Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) said that currently 87% of adults in Vietnam have a bank account.

In Ho Chi Minh City, this rate is even higher. The interbank electronic payment system currently processes an average of VND820 trillion per day while the financial switching and electronic clearing system processes 26 million transactions per day. The national credit information infrastructure has been upgraded to increase processing capacity, automatically update data, and expand the collection and update of data inside and outside the industry with the rate of successful data updates from credit institutions reaching a high level of over 98%.

From July 1, 2024, individual customers are required to authenticate their citizen identification card (CCCD) and biometrics. It was quite difficult at first, but thanks to good communication, more than 110.8 million individual customer records and more than 711,000 corporate customer records have now been verified for biometric information. From July 1, 2025, legal representatives of businesses must also authenticate biometrics to be able to make transactions.

"Non-cash payments have played a key role, not only promoting the efficiency of banking and financial activities, but also contributing to increasing transparency in economic management, promoting e-commerce, public services and improving national competitiveness. Under the direction of the Government, the close coordination between the SBV and the Ministry of Public Security, relevant ministries and branches, localities, banks and enterprises, non-cash payment activities in Vietnam have had strong and positive developments," Deputy Governor of the SBV Pham Tien Dung emphasized.

Mr. Phung Duy Khuong, VPBank's permanent Deputy General Director, said that we are living in a period of strong transformation of the digital economy - where all payment, financial and consumption activities are gradually moving away from traditional forms, to enter the era of "cashless" - "contactless" - "unlimited". According to Mr. Khuong, when talking about cashless payments, people often think of money transfers, bank cards swiping on bulky POS devices.

However, customers in the digital age demand more: they need simplicity, the highest security, and the ability to transact anytime, anywhere – using only personal devices such as phones or smartwatches. That is also the reason why contactless card payments have become the top choice. From the fourth quarter of 2024, more than 60% of transactions in the market have taken place in contactless form. This is a big leap not only in technology but also in the habits of Vietnamese users – a market that is still quite cash-heavy.

"Facing that boom, VPBank fully deployed the Tap & Pay ecosystem on most of the most popular platforms today: from Samsung Pay, Google Pay, Apple Pay, Garmin Pay, VPPay wallet. Thanks to the early and methodical deployment strategy, VPBank recorded a 70% growth in contactless transaction sales via credit cards, of which more than 81% were essential consumer transactions such as shopping, dining, supermarkets - proving high applicability and real consumer demand," said Mr. Khuong.

Mr. Phung Duy Khuong, Permanent Deputy General Director of VPBank, spoke at the seminar "Cashless payment promotes digital economy".

According to Mr. Khuong, VPBank is the first bank in Asia to deploy Pay by Account, allowing users to integrate their payment accounts into their phones or watches, opening up the opportunity to access contactless payments to millions of Vietnamese people. Up to now, VPBank customers with their payment accounts can pay at more than 100 million Mastercard acceptance points worldwide, and we aim to reach 500,000 Pay by Account users by 2025. In addition to solutions for individuals, VPBank also offers optimal solutions for corporate customers and small businesses.

The Tap to Phone (T2P) solution – turning NFC-enabled Android phones into payment devices – allows merchants to accept contactless card payments and send e-invoices to customers instantly without investing in expensive POS machines. All of VPBank’s contactless payment solutions – from Tap & Pay, QR code, Pay by Account to Tap to Phone – are seamlessly integrated on the VPBank NEO super app.

By the end of 2024, VPBank NEO has attracted more than 10 million users, processing more than 700 million transactions. To bring a truly personalized, secure and smart experience, VPBank has fully exploited the power of data, AI and cloud computing technology, allowing flexible expansion, quick connection with partners and the digital community.

Vietnamese people make 5.5 billion cashless transactions in the first quarter of 2025

Mr. Nguyen Hung Nguyen - Deputy General Director of the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam (NAPAS) said that Vietnamese people's transactions have approached those of Thailand and India. "According to the State Bank of Vietnam, in the first quarter of 2025 alone, Vietnamese people will conduct 5.5 billion cashless transactions, of which 4.5 billion will be on digital channels with a value of 40 million billion VND. This is an extremely impressive number. Vietnam's average transaction per capita has approached that of Thailand and India and is only slightly behind China. This shows that the change in cashless payment behavior in society is increasing rapidly ," Mr. Nguyen commented.

Mr. Nguyen Hung Nguyen - Deputy General Director of Vietnam National Payment Joint Stock Company (NAPAS).

According to Mr. Nguyen, with the scale of Vietnam's digital economy growing strongly in recent years, in which e-commerce contributes more than 60%. For example, in 2024, it reached 36 billion USD, in 2025 it is forecasted to reach 57 billion USD. E-commerce alone, in 2024 it reached 22 billion USD, in which 90% of transactions are paid electronically including QR, e-wallet. Regarding the impact of digital payments on the economy, Mr. Nguyen also said that it is increasingly convenient, helps with fast payments, reduces operating costs. At the same time, digital payments also contribute to transparency, optimize cash flow when tracing in real time, support tax management...

Sharing about NAPAS and the digital ecosystem, NAPAS Deputy General Director Hung Nguyen also said that payment transactions via NAPAS have increased sharply. In 2024, NAPAS processed 9.56 billion transactions, an increase of approximately 30% in the number of transactions and more than 14.4% in transaction value compared to 2023. According to statistics from the banking industry, the country currently has more than 200 million bank accounts in circulation. About 1/5 of these regularly make digital transactions like this with about 40 million cards regularly making digital transactions on all channels.

Achieving this success requires the preparation and companionship of NAPAS with banks, payment intermediaries, foreign partners to build a payment network, accept payments and issue with standards and good service quality among the top in the world. To promote cashless payments, for users, NAPAS provides convenient payment services such as NAPAS 247 instant money transfer; VietQRPay and VietQR Global solutions: payment from cards, bank accounts/e-wallets can pay domestically and cross-border...

Source: https://baodautu.vn/nguoi-viet-thuc-hien-55-ty-giao-dich-khong-dung-tien-mat-trong-quy-i2025-d303925.html