Commercial banks have funneled about VND15 trillion ($662 million) to date into digital transformation, General Secretary and Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Banks Association Nguyen Quoc Hung has said.

The 2020-2025 period has witnessed major movements in payment transactions by credit institutions, he told the “Ensuring Security, Safety for E-transactions” seminar on August 21.

Prior to 2016, 500,000 to 1 million transactions a day would have been the stuff of dreams for credit institutions. Now, daily transactions can reach up to 8 million, with a cash value of VND900 trillion ($38 billion).

“With such a huge number of transactions each day, digital transformation has been remarkable in the banking sector, especially given the Covid-19 pandemic,” Mr. Hung said.

As of June, the average bank transfer amount increased 52.35 per cent compared to 2022. Payment volumes through QR codes and internet and mobile banking services have increased in both value and quantity, whereas cash withdrawals at ATMs have fallen about 6.5 per cent.

“Digital transformation can help limit the use of cash and promote payments in the fastest and most convenient way,” he said.

About 40 banks have opened some 11 million remote payment accounts for customers via electronic Know Your Client (eKYC) measures and another 20 have opened 10.8 million card payment accounts for customers via eKYC.