At the press conference announcing the Vietnam Card Day 2024 event on the morning of September 26, Mr. Pham Anh Tuan, Director of the Payment Department, State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), said that by mid-September 2024, about 38 million bank accounts will have their biometric data collected, including nearly 4 million e-wallets.

Most customers who make money transfers of over VND 10 million/transaction or total transactions of over VND 20 million/day have registered biometric information to check and re-authenticate the account owner's identity when making transactions, as required in Decision 2345 of the State Bank.

Mr. Tuan reaffirmed the goal of Decision 2345 is to ensure that the account must be owned by the owner when performing services related to the account, card, and wallet. Thereby, contributing to limiting the situation of fraudulent money transfers into accounts that are not owned by the owner that are rented, bought, or borrowed from others.

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38 million accounts have had their biometric data collected. Photo: Hoang Ha.

After two months of implementation, the average number of transactions is about 25 million transactions/day. Compared to the average number of transactions before July 1, 2024, the number of transactions is almost unchanged.

“Decision 2345 has brought about extremely positive results when the number of fraud cases after July 1st was only 700 cases, a 50% decrease; the number of accounts used for fraud was only 682 accounts, a 72% decrease compared to the average number of the first 7 months of the year,” Mr. Pham Anh Tuan shared.

The above results show extremely positive impacts, in which Decision 2345 contributes significantly to limiting fraud in payments.

The Director of the Payment Department expressed hope that payment service providers and payment intermediaries will continue to collect biometric data and verify biometric data stored in chip-embedded ID cards.

These are the contents stipulated in Circular 17 of the State Bank regulating the opening and use of payment accounts, Circular 18 regulating bank card activities, and Circular 40 regulating payment intermediary activities.

Accordingly, from January 1, 2025, individual customers whose biometric information has not been collected by credit institutions or payment intermediaries will only be able to transfer money directly at bank transaction counters.

“The above deadline is approaching, credit institutions and payment intermediaries are urgently promoting this,” Mr. Tuan noted.

Mr. Pham Anh Tuan informed that next October, the State Bank will issue a circular to replace Circular 35 on security and safety in online transactions. This circular will replace Decision 2345 and has legal value, raising compliance to a higher level in the system of legal documents.

However, the Director of the Payment Department said that not all transactions require biometric authentication. However, the conditions for conducting transactions on electronic means also help payment service providers and payment intermediaries to re-check their data warehouses, ensuring that customers provided with services on the electronic environment must be guaranteed to be genuine.

“We also want to convey the message to the people that at any time, customers can request the bank to check and register for biometric authentication. This ensures the rights of customers and helps limit fraud and scams in payments.”