Value of domestic cashless transactions Vietnam Q1 2023, by payment type

In the first quarter of 2023, the value of transactions via domestic credit transfer reached over 48 quadrillion Vietnamese dong in Vietnam. In the same period, the number of these transactions amounted to around 2.1 billion in the country. Previously one of the most cash-dependent countries in Southeast Asia, Vietnam has seen substantial growth in cashless payment usage among its population in recent years.

Cashless payment on the rise

Alongside the expansion of the e-commerce market and the mainstream usage of the internet and smartphones, digital payments have constantly proved to be of growing importance in the finance sector in Vietnam. In 2022, the transaction value via these forms of payments was expected to amount to over 19 billion U.S. dollars, higher than that of many of Vietnam’s fellow Southeast Asian countries, such as Singapore or Malaysia. In 2023, the country beat most countries to become the nation with the second highest mobile payment adoption rate, ranking only after China.

Digital payments as the key to financial inclusion

Digital payment usage has been highly encouraged by the Vietnamese government to make affordable, convenient financial products and services available to its population. Due to the differences in the retail infrastructure in urban and rural Vietnam, various cashless payment alternatives have been introduced to meet local demand. In urban and suburban areas, the usage of e-wallets, especially QR codes, and cards, among many digital payment methods, has become widely accepted for various payment needs, from online or offline shopping to settling bills. For the rural population, state-owned telecommunications providers promoted the use of mobile money, a form of payment using an account connected to their mobile subscriptions. This has gained millions of users in a short amount of time.