Vietnam’s mobile money service is reportedly set for a major upgrade from pilot mode to full-fledged service that, among other things, will see transaction caps raised to ten times the current amount.
According to the state Vietnam News Service on Friday, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has completed a draft framework regulating mobile money, and is now seeking feedback from service providers, banks and related businesses.
Among other things, the SBV framework proposes to raise the monthly limit for withdrawals, transfers and payments from the current VND10 million (around US$378) to VND100 million per account. Payment limits for essential services such as electricity, water, tuition, hospital fees and social insurance would rise to VND200 million, the report said.
The mobile money service has been in pilot mode since its launch in 2021, with the pilot scheduled to close by the end of this year. Participants in the pilot have complained for some time that a cap of VND10 million per month was too low for practical needs, the report said.
More than 10.2 million customers had registered for and used mobile money services by the end of 2024, 72% of them in rural and remote areas. More than 11,800 locations provided mobile money accounts for customers, and 275,960 business units accepted payments for essential services such as electricity, water, education, telecoms and public administration.
The service registered nearly 193.9 million transactions in 2024, including deposits, withdrawals, money transfers and payments, with a total value exceeding VND6.4 trillion, the report said.
Even so, enterprises have been cautious in adopting mobile money payments, feeling the pilot framework was too limited, which is why the SBV has decided to create a decree to regulate the service and provide an official legal corridor for service providers to operate in, the report said.
