Vietnam’s banking sector will have to develop more useful and modern services
to meet future challenges, and the application of information technology and
security systems will play a more important role in the future, experts said at
a conference yesterday.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of Vietnam 2010 Banking
conference and exhibition in Ho Chi Minh City, Nguyen Van Giau, Governor of the
State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), said: “Developing more useful banking
services, widening the use of the new Point of Sale (POS) for plastic money,
and seeking more idle capital in rural areas are new trends in the banking
industry.”

Other experts spoke on ways to push up non-cash payment in Viet Nam,
encouraging Vietnamese consumers to adopt the new POS plastic money system for
shopping.

In a recent survey carried out by the State Bank of Vietnam’s HCM City
branch, 70 per cent of banks said they needed better technology infrastructure
for linking the POS machine with other partners.

“The success of POS would depend mainly on the service
owners, especially if they don’t want banks to have records of their sales
transactions so as to avoid paying more taxes,” said Bui Quang Tien,
director of SBV’s Payment Department.

High POS fees between banks and the cost of promoting the
service were also slowing the uptake of transactions using the machines.

“Vietnam’s
high growth rate, deeper financial integration, high ratio of youth population,
and improved living standards as well as the high ability to use technology
will boost POS use in the near future,” Tien said.

The nation’s banking sector took one major stop towards
promoting non-cash payments by connecting the POS system between banks in Ho Chi Minh City
yesterday. Hanoi
had established a similar link in September.

Representatives of several banks said they were paying
attention to developing other non-cash payment services like mobile banking,
internet banking and home banking.

At present, there are 28.6 million ATM cards, 46,000 POS
machines and 11,000 ATMs in Vietnam.
The issuance of plastic money, including debit and credit cards grew by 150-200
per cent a year during the 2006-10 period, but the transactional amounts via
the POS system was still very low at around 5 per cent.

Experts also spoke on risk management and security in retail
banking, which they said was the most significant factor for the industry.

The conference, which ends today, was organised by the State
Bank of Vietnam’s
Information Technology Department and the International Data Group. It was
attended by international and national banks, finance institutions and IT
companies, such as Polaris, EMC, APC, AgriBank, Vietin Bank and BKAV.

Source: VNS