Banks and e-wallets are urging customers to update their facial and chip-embedded citizen identification cards in order to prevent disruptions in high-value online transactions. Starting from July 1, online money transfer transactions over 10 million VND at a time or cumulatively over 20 million VND per day will require facial authentication matching a centralized population database. Currently, the rate of e-wallet transactions over 10 million VND is less than 1%, according to a payment intermediary leader.
The State Bank has reported that about 11% of transactions, representing more than 11% of banking industry accounts, generate online money transfer transactions over 10 million VND. The number of accounts with a daily transaction value of over 20 million VND accounts for less than 1%. Many banks have been informing customers to authenticate biometrics with chip-embedded citizen identification cards in order to avoid disruption of large-value online transactions in the near future.
To avoid interruptions in large-value online transactions, banks recommend that customers without a chip-embedded citizen identification card update their documents. Customers can take a photo of their citizen identification card with a chip for biometric authentication, as per Decision 2345. Many customers have been proactively updating their information through the bank’s application, with thousands of face samples and citizen identification cards being updated daily.
Foreign customers residing in Vietnam who do not have chip-embedded citizen identification cards can use their passports and visit the bank branch for support staff to update their biometric information. The authentication process involves touching the citizen identification card to the chip reader on the phone, which can be confusing for some customers. The use of biometrics for authentication brings benefits such as convenience and increased security against online fraud.
Overall, the implementation of biometrics in online transactions aims to enhance security, reduce fraud, and protect user accounts. While there may be challenges for some customers, the benefits outweigh the concerns. Customers can now authenticate transactions using facial recognition, making the process more convenient and secure. With the application of biometrics, banks and e-wallets aim to reduce the rate of virtual accounts and make online transactions safer for users.
