Remittances to Vietnam in 2019 are estimated at 16.7 billion US dollars (accounting for 6.4 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)), slightly up compared to the 16 billion US dollars recorded in 2018, according to the World Bank’s newly updated Annual Remittance Data.
As remittances transferred to Vietnam have continuously been increasing since 2000 until now and only recorded a decline in 2009, Vietnam is among the top 10 countries with the largest remittances in the world.
Report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) showed that Vietnam accounted for about 2.5 percent of the global remittances in 2017. Of the total remittances into Vietnam, the US accounted for the largest proportion with 55 percent, followed by Australia, Canada, France, Germany and South Korea. The main remittance senders are overseas Vietnamese and export workers, with overseas Vietnamese mainly settling in the US, Canada, Germany and France, accounting for about 80-90 percent of the remittances transferred to Vietnam.
Eyeing the rising remittances to Vietnam each year, commercial banks have taken the opportunity to provide remittance services at the end of the year, which is considered to be the “remittance season”.
In addition to promotions, gift giving, some banks have even set up a subsidiary specialising in remittance services, or set up a separate website for this business.
Most recently, Commercial Joint Stock Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) has announced to spend 2.8 billion dong, including Vinfast Fadil Plus cars, Air Blake motorcycles, Samsung Galaxy Note 10 smart phones, and other cash prizes for individual customers receiving remittances from 500 US dollars or more, or equivalent in the period from October 23rd to January 22nd 2020.
Meanwhile, Dong A Commercial Joint Stock Bank (DongABank) has launched the new website of Dong A Money Transfer Company (DAMTC)
“With the benefits that the new website brings, DAMTC believes that the company is not only a pioneer in remittance payment services but also a leader in the customer care trend based on the 4.0 technology,” said Vu Thanh Trung, DAMTC’s deputy general director.
Among the large banks, Commercial Joint Stock Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam (Agribank) is currently the largest Western Union remittance payment agent in Vietnam, providing both outward remittance and payment services for Western Union in all branches and transaction offices of Agribank.
The bank said that the cooperation between Agribank and Western Union an international money transfer provider with over 135 years in operation which has about 510,000 points in 200 countries offers an additional safe, prestige, fast and efficient choice to overseas Vietnamese community, along with special offers and gifts, etc.
Contrary to other banks, Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MB) has chosen Cambodia as a niche market with eMoney service to transfer remittances from Cambodia to Vietnam. This is an associated service between MB and Viettel Cambodia Company Limited (Metfone). This service allows individual customers in Cambodia to transfer money to individual receivers in Vietnam through eMoney accounts or eMoney agent. The company commits to immediately transfer the money into receiver’s account or pay cash within five minutes, completely free for receiver, etc.
With a similar period of five minutes, Export Import Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Eximbank) announced the SWIFT remittance transfer service with a commitment that it is a modern and highly secure form of money transfer with a widespread network of affiliates in 84 countries. In addition, the bank also said that customers can choose to receive remittances at the counter, at ATMs, or at their own houses even after office hours.
At Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank), the remittance services are abundant with a common point is that customers receive money within just 10 minutes from the time the transferor completes the transfer procedures, while the bank does not apply a charge to recipients.
Nevertheless, a notable point published by Sacombank is that customers “do not need to declare the origin of the money”.
According to an expert in the banking sector, most banks currently do not strictly regulate the declaration of the money origin. This can be a loophole that enable people to take advantage to perform money laundering through remittances.
