In concluding remarks at a workshop on the future of digital payments, the State Bank of Vietnam’s Deputy Governor Pham Tien Dung set out priorities for the banking sector’s digital transformation and payment innovation, centred on improving convenience, strengthening safety, reducing costs and delivering practical benefits for households and businesses. He highlighted fragmented payment arrangements in public transport as a concrete pain point and framed interoperability for metro and other public transport payments as a high-impact, user-facing objective. The Deputy Governor pointed to the proliferation of separate transit cards across routes as evidence of siloed infrastructure, and set an ambition to enable existing payment instruments such as bank cards, e-wallets and mobile banking to be used for public transport so customers can pay directly from their accounts without multiple intermediaries. Work with transport authorities has been ongoing but has been constrained by differing technical standards across project sponsors, with cooperation prospects improving alongside efforts by Hanoi Urban Railway and commercial banks. He also emphasised that transaction fees must remain proportionate for low-value payments, citing the example that a VND 15,000 ticket should not attract an additional VND 1,000 transaction fee, and referenced Vietnam’s issued circular on Open API as a foundational framework for open banking connectivity. The remarks also flagged emerging technology-driven issues including tokens, stablecoins and artificial intelligence, alongside the need to maintain operational continuity, cybersecurity and risk management as digital payments scale, noting NAPAS transaction volumes that can reach VND 120 trillion (around USD 6 billion) on peak days.
State Bank of Vietnam 2025-10-07
State Bank of Vietnam urges interoperable public transport payments and reiterates low-cost secure digital banking priorities
At a digital payments workshop, State Bank of Vietnam's Deputy Governor Pham Tien Dung prioritized banking digital transformation, focusing on convenience, safety, cost reduction, and benefits for households and businesses. He emphasized interoperable payment systems in public transport and integrating existing methods like bank cards and e-wallets. He also addressed transaction fees, emerging technologies, and the importance of cybersecurity and risk management as digital payments expand.