The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) is working on a draft decree to revise Decree 101 of 2012 on non-cash payment, introducing for the first time regulations on e-money.
As per the draft, e-money is defined as a monetary value stored on electronic devices which is prepaid by customers to banks, foreign bank branches or intermediary payment service providers for making payment transactions with an equivalent value guaranteed by banks.
E-money may take the form of prepaid card, e-wallet or mobile money. Banks and foreign bank branches may provide e-money through issuing prepaid cards while intermediary payment service providers will be allowed to supply e-money in the forms of e-wallet and mobile money.
According to the SBV, of these three types of e-money, prepaid cards and e-wallets have become popular in the country while mobile money remains a quite new concept. As per the draft, mobile money is a form of e-money issued by telecoms businesses that are licensed to provide intermediary payment services and identify customers via their mobile subscriber databases.
In order to be licensed to provide mobile money services, telecoms businesses must meet several conditions on capital, operation scheme, personnel, and technology, etc. Besides, telecoms enterprises would have to apply strict KYC measures for mobile subscribers in reality to build accurate subscriber datastores and take solutions to ensure confidentiality of money transfer and payment transactions.- (VLLF)
