(Photo: baochinhphu.vn)

In a resolution issued last week, the central bank said it is working with the Ministry of Information and Communications to launch mobile money services this year.

The resolution urged banks to encourage the use of non-cash payments for government-funded services. The SBV’s move complies with a Government resolution, which puts the use of cashless payment among key tasks to improve the business environment and national competitiveness in 2020. The Government requested agencies to put at least 30 percent of their services online, and allow people and enterprises to make cashless payments by different methods.

According to the SBV, Vietnam had nearly 19,000 ATMs, more than 280,000 point-of-sale machines, and 98 million cards in circulation by October last year.