Value of cashless payments equal to nearly 28 times of GDP

Value of cashless payments equal to nearly 28 times of GDP

The number and value of cashless payment transactions surged by an average of 58.86 per cent and 24.36 per cent annually in the past five years.

QR code transactions increased by 106.24 per cent in volume and 128.15 per cent in value. — Photo vietnambiz.vn

Cashless payments in Việt Nam surged to unprecedented levels in 2025, with their total value estimated at about 28 times the country’s GDP, far exceeding Government targets, according to a report released by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) on Monday.

In its review of the Government’s project on the development of cashless payments for the 2021–25 period, the SBV said the number and value of cashless payment transactions rose by an average of 58.86 per cent and 24.36 per cent a year over the past five years.

Specifically, transactions via the internet channel increased by 60.6 per cent a year in number and 31.92 per cent in value, while mobile phone transactions climbed by 73.32 per cent in volume and 52.55 per cent in value. QR code payments recorded the fastest growth, surging by 106.24 per cent in volume and 128.15 per cent in value.

By December 2025, the number of individual payment accounts had exceeded 232 million, up 13.68 per cent compared with the same period in 2024.

The number of bank cards in circulation surpassed 164 million by December 2025, marking a rise of 5.32 per cent year on year.

During the 2021–2025 period, domestic card transactions increased by an average of 13.9 per cent per year, while transaction value grew by 12.08 per cent annually.

By the end of 2025, the number of ATMs had fallen by 1.09 per cent compared with 2024, while the number of POS terminals rose by 19.86 per cent. In 2025 alone, ATM transactions declined by 17.30 per cent in number and 6.02 per cent in value compared with the previous year.

According to the report, the SBV has been connecting to and using the National Population Database since December 2022 for its online public service system. As of January 14, 2026, the system had supported the processing of more than 1,739 applications.

Administrative reform linked to the digitalisation of the banking sector has also been stepped up. In 2025, the SBV cut and simplified 269 out of 298 administrative procedures, removed 255 business conditions and replaced paper documents with data for 21 procedures. It also added 32 full-process public services, bringing the total to 57.

The SBV has directed credit institutions and payment intermediaries to implement customer authentication using chip-embedded citizen identity cards and the VNeID application.

As of January 23, 2026, more than 146.1 million individual customer records and more than 1.6 million organisational customer records with payment accounts had their biometric information verified. A total of 57 credit institutions and 39 payment intermediary organisations have implemented chip-based citizen identity card verification via mobile applications, while 32 credit institutions and 15 payment intermediary organisations have implemented the VNeID application.

The SBV’s SIMO information system, a platform used to monitor payment accounts and e-wallets suspected of fraud and counterfeiting, has supported customer management, monitoring and risk prevention. As of January 14, 2026, the system had issued warnings to more than 2.6 million customers, of whom more than 831,000 temporarily suspended or cancelled transactions with a total value of nearly VNĐ3.06 trillion (US$116 million).

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