70% of adults to have bank accounts by 2020

There are to be at least 20 bank branches and transaction offices for every 100,000 adults, about 30,000 ATMs, or 40 for every 100,000 adults, and points of sale (POS) will number 300,000, or 400 for every 100,000 adults.

About 15 per cent of bank branches and transaction offices are to be in rural areas. From 35 to 40 per cent of adults in rural areas will have savings accounts and from 50 to 60 per cent of small and medium-sized enterprise will have access to credit.  

Two million Vietnamese customers used internet payment services in the first half of the year, according to Mr. Pham Xuan Hoe, Deputy Director of the Banking Strategy Institute, which increased from 30 to 50 per cent in the 2013-2015 period. “The level of banking service use has increased dramatically,” he said. In 2015 there were 36.77 million individual banking accounts, up 15-fold compared to 2004. In 2014, 20.67 per cent of adults in rural areas had accounts at financial institutions.

He also estimated that in the first half of this year, the average value of payments via mobile phones each month was about VND700,000 ($31.35). Cash in M2 assets decreased from 18 per cent in 2005 to 11 per cent in the first half of this year as a result.

There are currently some 9,787 bank branches and transaction offices, 16,937 ATMs, and 222,831 POS. More than 60 financial institutions having internet banking and 35 financial institutions have mobile banking (excluding Central People’s Credit Funds, bank branches and transaction points of the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies, and transaction points of foreign banks).

On September 5 the Prime Minister signed Decision No. 1726 to enhance access to banking services, which are important for the economy and for the banking sector, Professor Nguyen Kim Anh, Deputy Governor of the SBV, said. The Decision noted that banking service providers have continually developed and adapted to global demand, with a dramatic increase in demand for banking services.

Professor Kim Anh also pointed out that there are still difficulties that banks must overcome. For example, revenue from non-credit services is still modest and banking systems still have the burden of supplying capital to the economy, which should be shared more by the stock market and the insurance market. Furthermore, access to banking services among citizens and enterprises are uneven around the country.