From September 1, the banking industry will eliminate 86 million "junk" accounts.

Nearly 86 million inactive accounts will be deleted from September 1. Illustration photo

Mr. Pham Anh Tuan, Director of the Payment Department of the State Bank, said that as of June 27, 2025, the country has 200 million bank accounts, of which more than 119 million individual customer profiles (CIF) have been compared and updated with biometric information via chip-embedded citizen identification cards or the VneID application; more than 1.1 million organizational customer profiles have been compared with biometric information.

After cleaning the customer database and applying biometric information matching solutions, compared to the same period in 2024, the number of individual customers who were scammed and lost money decreased by 57%, and the number of individual accounts receiving scammed money decreased by 47%.

“Accounts that do not update valid identification documents and do not verify biometric information may be dead or fraudulent accounts that were opened in the past and are no longer active. It is expected that in September, the bank will review and close accounts that do not update valid identification documents and have not verified biometrics to prevent criminals from taking advantage of them for fraud,” said Mr. Tuan.

It is known that according to Circular No. 17/2024/TT-NHNN of the State Bank, from July 1, 2025, businesses and organizations that have not collected biometric information will be stopped from transacting in the digital environment. In addition, the State Bank is drafting an amendment to Circular 17/2024/TT-NHNN in the direction of tightening the authentication of the owner's identity for accounts belonging to organizations and businesses.

Accordingly, the legal representative of the enterprise and the chief accountant must go directly to the bank to open an account and cannot authorize. Commercial banks will collect and compare biometric data of the enterprise owner and chief accountant, and at the same time encourage the use of the VNeID electronic identification application to compare with the original data in the national population database.

In addition, the upcoming draft related to cards and accounts will also require credit institutions to use technology to authenticate the person coming to transact with the information on documents as well as on the VNeID application, instead of the bank teller having to authenticate themselves as is currently the case. The revised circular is expected to take effect from September 1, 2025.

Thus, nearly 86 million inactive accounts, most likely illegitimate or abandoned accounts, or even accounts created by bad actors to commit fraud, will be deleted by commercial banks from September 1, 2025.

Information from the State Bank shows that non-cash payment activities continue to achieve positive results. The inter-bank electronic payment system, financial switching system and electronic clearing system operate stably, safely and smoothly, serving well the payment needs of the people.

In the first 5 months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, non-cash payment transactions increased by 45.44% in quantity and 25.21% in value; via the internet channel increased by 47.09% in quantity and 34.46% in value; via mobile phone channel increased by 39.90% in quantity and 23.22% in value.

Transactions via QR Code also increased by 76.62% in quantity and 179.14% in value; transactions via the Interbank Electronic Payment System increased by 9.99% in quantity and 39.85% in value; transactions via the Financial Switching and Electronic Clearing System increased by 14.33% in quantity and 3.85% in value.

Statistics show that the shift from reducing the use of cash to increasing the use of non-cash payment methods and services in the economy is taking place positively.

Mr. Tuan emphasized: “The State Bank regularly and proactively monitors and directs payment service providers and payment intermediary services to strengthen measures to ensure security and safety in payment activities. At the same time, it continues to coordinate with competent authorities in preventing and combating high-tech crimes in the banking sector.”

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/tu-ngay-1-9-nganh-ngan-hang-loai-bo-86-trieu-tai-khoan-rac-709209.html