The condition of deploying payment services via mobile phone (Mobile Money) is to have a payment intermediary license and operate as an e-wallet, which is considered a big test for the operators.
At the seminar “Electronic money on mobile subscribers to promote comprehensive finance” on May 23-24, Pham Tien Dung, director of Payment Department (the State Bank of VietnamSBV) said, the objects allowed to deploy Mobile Money are telecommunications companies licensed by SBV to provide payment intermediary. Mobile Money is eMoney, an e-wallet, but does not have a bank account.
Previously, e-wallets could only be top up through banks. But with Mobile Money, the account will be loaded from card dealers. This raises many issues about the limit of agents, management of agents, management of money sources, safety and data security.
At the seminar to get enterprises’ opinions in the draft Circular on amendments and supplements to Circular No. 39/2014/ TT-NHNN guiding payment intermediary services earlier, Dung said: “Current law still requires the e-wallet to go through the bank account, so if you want to amend the Circular, you must correct the law. It is not possible to fix this at this stage. If the e-wallet is not recharged via bank account, it will have to go through an agent. So how to manage the agents who receive money from users without returning them to payment intermediaries? “.
The leader of a bank says that if Mobile Money does not pay via banks, tax inspection will become much more difficult. On the other hand, if the State does not control the source of money, then there will be open chances for money laundering, online gambling and other illegal transactions.
In addition to payment via bank accounts, another problem that concerns SBV is customer identification (KYC). If with the e-wallet, KYC gets the customer information from the bank, with Mobile Money, the network operators and agents must do it themselves. The problem is, whether the network can ensure the safety of customer data, customer information is accurate, and it can guarantee the problem of money laundering, safety and security.
Overall, SBV is orienting Mobile Money to operate like an e-wallet, except for the issue of payment via an open bank account. For example, according to e-wallet rules, the money deposited into the account will be 1: 1, so will Mobile Money, SBV’s view of Mobile Money is that it should not generate currency.
Banking experts say that Mobile Money service provider is not an electronic money issuer, because it does not create a new amount of money to put into circulation, but only convert the form of cash so that customers can pay in a new form.
Regarding the payment limit, SBV is making a plan of 10 million dong per month for Mobile Money. In terms of management, ensuring the balance in Mobile Money, in some countries, customers’
SBV is proposing a plan that provides a condition that the total of Mobile Money’s balance must correspond to the amount of the wallet company deposited at the bank guarantee account. This amount is only used for the purpose of the wallet, the Mobile Money service company can make a loss, but the money in the user account must still be secured in the bank. In this model, Vietnam has not taken into account the international money transfer issue, links between wallets and cross-links between Mobile Money service providers.
Currently, among the network companies that proposed Mobile Money deployment, only Viettel and VNPT have payment intermediary license, and MobiFone is in the process of applying for a license. Therefore, if the government approves this plan, only two operators above are eligible to participate in Mobile Money.
At the Conference “Electronic money on mobile subscribers to promote comprehensive finance”, Nguyen Manh Hung, minister of Information and Communications said that there would be many legal issues to be solved for Mobile Money, as well as associated challenges and risks, but Mobile Money’s benefits were much greater. He hoped to “see the introduction of Mobile Money in Vietnam in 2019″.
It can be seen, if Mobile Money is deployed, there will be a fierce competition in the market. The strength of telecom companies with hundreds of millions of authenticated subscribers (KYC), with a wide network will be a threat to the payment intermediary industry, fintech and banks.
