Visa, a world leader in digital payments, continues to support Vietnam's annual Cashless Day (Jun 16), aiming to propel the country's digital payments ecosystem. Visa is sponsoring the 6th Cashless Day celebration, organized by the State Bank of Vietnam and Tuoi Tre Newspaper. This year's campaign seeks to engage consumers and businesses with exciting activities and special offers, designed to promote digital payments and expedite Vietnam's transition to a cashless society.

Ms. Dung Dang, Visa Country Manager of Vietnam and Laos, said: "Digital payments are shaping the future of the modern economy in Vietnam, with positive benefits for consumers and businesses. Visa is excited about our ongoing partnership with Cashless Day 2024, helping to enhance cashless transactions throughout the country. This initiative underscores our collective commitment to ensure digital payments benefit all stakeholders in Vietnam’s payment ecosystem, including consumers, merchants, and payment service providers."

Vietnam embraces the digital payment revolution

Visa’s Consumer Payment Attitudes Study 20231 highlights a significant rise in cashless payments, especially mobile wallet transactions, among Vietnam's merchants. A remarkable 79% of food and dining establishments and 74% of retailers and convenience stores now accept cashless payments.

Meanwhile, Visa’s Asia Pacific Small and Medium-sized Business (SMB) Research 20232 further indicates that over 40% of SMBs in Vietnam now accept card payments, acknowledging their critical role in business operations. Two-thirds of these SMBs credit digital payments for positively impacting their revenue, with 80% associating increased turnover with card transactions. This growing acceptance of digital payments has streamlined and secured consumer transactions.

To drive digital payment acceptance in Vietnam, Visa has partnered with Vietnam's leading e-wallet apps - MoMo, VNPAY, and ZaloPay - enabling Visa cardholders to make effortless QR payments. Visa has also introduced Apple Pay in Vietnam by partnering with major issuers in the country, offering a smooth and secure payment option. In the past 10 months, Visa has expanded its point-of-sale marketing at SMB merchants and chain retailers in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, boosting the visibility and acceptance of Visa on Apple Pay.

Safety and security are top priorities

With the rapid rise of digital payments in Vietnam, there's been growing fraud and cybercrime. In 2023, Vietnamese businesses had the highest number of cyber threat incidents in Southeast Asia, with 17.1 million cases3. Hence, this year's Cashless Day theme is "Promoting safe and secure non-cash payments", aimed at raising awareness and fostering secure digital payment practices.

As part of its efforts to promote safety and security in digital payments, Visa has implemented a tokenization strategy that replaces sensitive account information with a unique digital identifier. This security measure not only enhances security but also allows consumers to manage their data-sharing preferences via their bank's apps. To date, Visa has issued over 1 billion tokens in the Asia-Pacific region.

In an additional effort to enhance digital security, Visa participated in the Vietnam Security Summit 2024, where Mr. Abhijit Bandyopadhyay, Director of Risk Advisory Practice for Visa Consulting & Analytics, shared insights on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in payment security technologies.

Ms. Dung Dang added: "In our digitally interconnected world, payment security is crucial. AI and tokenization offer benefits beyond traditional methods, reducing cyber threats and enhancing protection. Visa continues to leverage these solutions to build a secure payment environment that customers and businesses can trust."