According to the Vietnam National Financial Switching Joint-StockCompany (Banknetvn), Vietnam's banking system has 11,000 ATMs, 42,000merchants and more than 40 card-issuing banks, with over 27 millionpayment cards issued.
The largest transaction processingsystems, Banknetvn, Smartlink and VNBC, have established a networklinking 42 member banks with more than 8,000 ATMs.
The ATMcard market has high potential and Vietcombank (VCB) has issued morethan four million domestic debit cards while Dong A Bank has threemillion card accounts. With as few as 50,000 ATM cards, commercial bankscan raise large, cheap capital through ATM card services.
According to Global Petro Commercial Joint Stock Bank (PGBank), just ayear after introducing its Flexicard card, it had issued 424,580 cardsand petroleum sales paid by Flexicard had reached 3.6 trillion VND (186million USD) in that time.
A survey conducted by NielsenCo Vietnam found that up to 23 percent of customers used debit cardservices, one percent used credit cards and 100 percent were aware of ATMcards, but it also showed that the use of ATM cards remained low.
In mid- 2010, the State Bank of Vietnam asked State agencies to outlinetheir plans to promote card payment in order to create favourablecondition for developing ATM card services.
Banks such asVietcombank, Eximbank, ACB and PG Bank have implemented a series ofprogrammes to develop and encourage spending by card.
Arepresentative of Petrolimex, a major shareholder in PG Bank, saidcustomers can buy petrol and withdraw or deposit cash using theirFlexicards at 1,800 of its petrol stations, and at more than 60 PG BankATM booths nationwide.
In Vietnam, ATM services are knownmainly for cash transactions so to minimise the amount paid in cash,ATM cards are needed. Representatives of Petrolimex and PG Bank saidthey will continue to develop the point of sales network.
General Director of PG Bank Nguyen Quang Dinh said consumer habits ofusing cash and fierce competition between banks require them to makegreater efforts.
Close links between banks and retailunits are good conditions for the development of the payment card marketin Vietnam, and with improved quality, local customers will furtherbenefit from this convenient banking service, he said./.