Digital Payments: Accelerating Innovation, Maintaining “Ten Thousand Trusts”

Electronic payments are making a strong breakthrough, opening a new era for Vietnam's digital economy. Along with impressive growth, the banking industry faces many challenges in terms of security, safety and pressure to innovate technology. "Ten thousand trusts" from consumers are considered the core foundation, determining the sustainable development of cashless payments.

Expanded digital ecosystem, seamless utilities

At the workshop “One touch, thousands of trusts - Creating the future of digital payments” organized by Tien Phong Newspaper and the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam (NAPAS) on October 7, Mr. Pham Anh Tuan, Director of the Payment Department, State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), said that the banking industry has been proactive and pioneering in building a modern digital ecosystem, operating on the principle of “taking customers as the center”. People can pay for electricity, water, telecommunications or online shopping with just one application - whether it is a bank platform or a service provider.

Along with the legal completion for digital transformation, technological infrastructure is also developed synchronously. Important systems such as inter-bank electronic payments, financial switching and electronic clearing, cross-border retail services, etc. operate stably 24/7, meeting international standards for speed, safety and connectivity.

Overview of the Workshop. Source: TP Newspaper

According to the Payment Department, in the first 8 months of 2025, payments via the interbank system increased by 19% in quantity and 69.1% in value; financial switching increased by 17.25% in quantity. Cashless payments have reached a scale 25 times the GDP in 2024. The number of transactions increased by 43.53%, the value increased by 24.24%, proving that people and businesses are rapidly shifting to modern payment methods.

Another notable step forward is the implementation of biometric identification data: more than 131.5 million personal records and 1.4 million organizational records have been matched, ensuring 100% of Internet/Mobile Banking users are securely electronically authenticated.

QR payment has also touched every corner of people's lives. Every day, there are about 70 million transactions using the NAPAS payment system. According to Mr. Nguyen Quang Hung, Chairman of the Board of Directors of NAPAS, the journey of more than a decade has changed the habits of Vietnamese people: from swiping cards, tapping phones, to paying with VietQR codes. "With just one touch, every transaction becomes easier, faster and safer than ever," he said.

Security challenges and pressure to innovate

Despite rapid development, experts warn of parallel risks. Digital fraud is increasingly sophisticated and unpredictable; regulations on personal data protection are still inconsistent; the explosion of artificial intelligence (AI) opens up opportunities but also poses challenges in terms of cybersecurity. In addition, the digital human resources are insufficient in quantity and quality, becoming a worrying bottleneck.

Nguyen Xuan Thanh, a lecturer at Fulbright University Vietnam, pointed out three forces forcing the banking industry to accelerate: customers’ increasing expectations for instant and personalized transactions; the inherent limitations of traditional banks, which rely on old, expensive technology; and fierce competitive pressure from Fintech, digital banks and new payment platforms. Those who innovate slowly will be left behind, he emphasized.

Overview of the Workshop. Source: TP Newspaper

Experts say that, in the context of increasingly sophisticated high-tech crimes, consumer trust - "a thousand beliefs" - will determine the success or failure of digital payments. To strengthen this trust, the banking industry has synchronously deployed many solutions: mandatory biometric authentication for large transactions, applying tokenization (encrypting card numbers), enhancing risk management and multi-layer security.

Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Pham Tien Dung said that without an account, it is impossible to participate in the digital financial ecosystem. No matter how modern banking services are, if people still have to wear cards around their necks when riding the train, it cannot be considered complete. According to him, banks need to cooperate and integrate payment methods into public transport - from trains, buses to taxis - like the model deployed in China and Japan.

The Deputy Governor affirmed that Vietnam is not inferior to developed countries in terms of automatic payment. However, the solution must ensure convenience, safety and reasonable costs. “It is impossible to buy a train ticket for 15,000 VND but the transaction processing fee is up to 1,000 VND,” he emphasized.

According to Mr. Nguyen Hoang Long, Deputy General Director of NAPAS, the national payment infrastructure is the foundation of the digital economy . In the coming time, NAPAS will continue to invest in modernizing technology, applying AI to identify unusual transactions, enhancing multi-layer security, and expanding international connections. The goal is to build an open, autonomous, smart and sustainable payment architecture that effectively serves the national digital transformation strategy.

At the workshop, experts also agreed that digital transformation is not simply the application of technology, but a cultural, thinking and organizational revolution. The finance and banking industry, if it wants to go far, needs to build a transparent, cooperative, creative platform, empowering each individual to proactively innovate.

Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/thanh-toan-so-tang-toc-doi-moi-giu-vung-van-niem-tin-10389494.html