VN Payment Service Market, E-wallets Boom

The Vietnamese non-cash payment service market is lucrative

Under a government program on stimulating non-cash payment, revenue from cash payments would reduce to 10 percent by 2020.

The increase in e-wallets and smartphone-based payment methods coupled with the decreased payment service fee has attracted more users in recent years.

This explains why the value of transactions via e-wallets, which was $5 billion in 2009, jumped to VND53.109 trillion in 2016.

Grab some days ago announced the launch of GrabPay Credits, a payment tool for taxi services. 

Passengers will enjoy a discount of VND30,000 per taxi trip. The app-based taxi firm has joined the payment market, targeting people who still don’t have accounts or  cannot approach bank services, such as drivers and small businesses.

MoMo, a big player in the e-wallet market, has offered preferences to clients who pay for railway tickets, insurance policies and shopping. Those who remit money from Vietcombank to MoMo wallet, for example, would receive VND200,000 immediately. 

On Tet days, Zalo Pay wallet of VNG and Appota ran New Year Gift programs, giving money gifts via e-wallets instead of cash.

Contactless payment, or wave-to-pay methods, have also been developing rapidly in Vietnam. Samsung now offers Samsung Pay service to some high-end smartphone series. Users can make payments for goods and services with their smartphones instead of cards.

Ngo Trung Linh, CEO of Cong Dong Viet, which owns Payoo wallet, commented that in the past, making payments with cards at Point of Sales was considered a breakthrough in payment technology, but QR Code will be used more in the future.

Since QR Code can help significantly reduce the cost for payment infrastructure, it is expected to develop rapidly.

To date, 27 businesses have been licensed to provide payment services, including well-known services such as Payoo, MoMo, BankPlus, 1Pay, M-Pay, Vimo, BaoKim, ZaloPay, Ngan luong and Mobivi.

Analysts have noted the increased presence of foreign invested payment service providers. Most licensed payment companies in Vietnam have foreign capital. M_Service, which owns MoMo wallet, for example, in 2016 received a $28 million investment from Standard Chartered Private Equity and Goldman Sachs.

VNPT Epay has 65 percent of stockholder equity belonging to a South Korean investment fund. 

NTT Data from Japan has acquired 64 percent of shares of Payoo, the South East Asia’s biggest e-payment firm, and MOL Global from Malaysia has bought 50 percent of shares of Ngan Luong.

Meanwhile, 90 percent of shares of 1Pay have been acquired by TrueMoney from Thailand. It has also received investments from Alibaba of China.

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Kim Chi