Some 26.3 million banking account owners completed biometric verification, with facial recognition, as of July 22, according to the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV).

The central bank started to launch the biometric verification to finalise online banking transactions of VND10 million ($391) or more as part of measures on safety and security in online banking service provision to better protect customers from July 1.

Biometric authentication uses biological identifiers such as fingerprints, irises, voices, and facial features, and is considered the most secure from frauds. The regulation is to foster security for bank accounts and prevent financial frauds which are on the rise in Vietnam.

There are currently over 180 million personal payment banking accounts nationwide.

The whole banking system carried out an average of 23 million transactions per day, including 1.9 million transactions worth of VND10 million or more, equivalent to 8.2% of the total.