State Bank of Vietnam to propose new rules for e-wallet trading limits

Currently, the number of Vietnamese using mobile payments in stores is growing much faster than in other parts of Southeast Asia, according to a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers report. The proportion of consumers using mobile payments in Vietnam increased from 37% in 2018 to 61% in 2019. “The scope of mobile payment services is expanding,” the report said.

However, in order to further improve the current mobile payment environment, the National Bank of Vietnam may propose new provisions for the E-wallet trading limit.




According to a draft revised bill recently published by the National Bank of Vietnam, the daily trading limit for personal e-wallets in Vietnam will be set at $850, and USD 4250 per month. This setting is mainly for personal transfers and transaction payments for products and services.

In addition to quotas for personal e-wallet transactions, the draft will also have a daily trading limit of $4250 for organizations/enterprises using the E-wallet service, with a monthly trading limit of $212.5 million.




The State Bank of Vietnam said the draft was aimed at tightening the e-wallet open policy. Registration of e-wallets, individuals and organizations/businesses will be required to provide relevant information such as identity cards or passports, business registration certificates and registration of electronic banking services.

The draft published by the State Bank of Vietnam also states that e-wallet accounts must be associated with bank accounts. In addition, e-wallets can only be recharged through the account owner’s debit card or another wallet brand of the same provider.



The State Bank of Vietnam said the tightening policy was aimed at curbing the proliferation of brands in the e-wallet market, as well as avoiding illegal activities.

The State Bank of Vietnam also said that daily and monthly trading limits were set because the main function of e-wallets was to pay for small transactions.



Bui Quang Tin, a financial expert on the Vietnamese side, said requiring users to provide personal information would help manage the development of services. But Bui Quang Tin also points out that because registering an e-wallet account requires a large amount of personal information, this may make users hesitant to register. E-wallet service providers need to provide more convenient services to attract users while meeting the needs of the development of cashless payment.

There are currently about 26 e-wallet service providers in Vietnam as of the end of 2018, including MoMo, AirPay, ZaloPay, Vimo, VTCPay, SenPay, TrueMoney and Moca, as well as 10,000 partner companies that accept e-wallet payments, according to the national bank of Vietnam. There are currently about 4.2 million e-wallet accounts linked to bank accounts in Vietnam.