The Government Office gives certificates of merit to banks and payment intermediaries for their efforts in connecting and providing payment services on the national public service portal.— Photo courtesy of Momo

The National Public Service Portal with a payment platform connected to four banks and six payment intermediaries will save about VND8 trillion (US$347 million) a year after launching, said the Government Office.

Minister and chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung said: "The portal is one of the key solutions for e-Government development in the 2019-2020 period, with a vision to 2025."

Reviewing one-year of operating the portal, the office said they will add more services, bringing the total number of administrative procedures there to 2,700, adding: “The new services can help save another VND1.37 trillion per year, pushing the total savings from the portal to VND8 trillion per year."

According to the office, the portal is now connected to Vietcombank, VietinBank, Agribank, BIDV and six payment intermediaries including National Payment Corporation of Vietnam (NAPAS), the National E-commerce Payment System (Keypay), MoMo, VNPT Pay, Ngan Luong and Payoo.

With the connection to banks and payment intermediaries, the portal allows individuals and organisations to make non-cash payments from their accounts at 43 out of 46 banks, except for some foreign banks, for five types of payments, including traffic fines, administrative charges and fees, tax, social insurance, health insurance and electricity bills.

Currently, payments via the portal can be made for services at 12 ministries and departments, and in 51 out of 63 cities and provinces.

As a provider of retail payment infrastructure for the economy, NAPAS, under the State Bank of Viet Nam, has connected more than 100 million cardholders at more than 40 banks to public services level 4 through the portal.

Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, NAPAS has accompanied commercial banks and strictly implemented the Prime Minister's instructions on urgent tasks and solutions to remove difficulties for business production, ensuring social security through fee waiver programmes for direct payments to people and businesses for online payment transactions.

After reducing fees twice, 63 per cent of interbank payment transactions have been exempted or reduced with the total reduction of up to more than VND1 trillion in 2020

With such contributions, NAPAS was one of the units in the banking industry honoured by the Office of the Government for efforts in connecting and providing payment services on the portal.

According to statistics, non-cash payment transactions via NAPAS’ system in 2020 increased 75 per cent in volume and 121 per cent in value compared to 2019. At the same time, cash transactions decreased significantly. The number of cash transactions through ATM withdrawals recorded through the NAPAS system decreased from 42 per cent in 2019 to 26 per cent in 2020.

Also mentioned, MoMo e-wallet, as the first e-wallet selected as an official payment channel of the portal calculated that more than 40 per cent of the total 45,700 transactions and 20 per cent of online public service payment revenue via the portal were from MoMo users with QR codes on the e-wallet.

A representative of the e-wallet told Viet Nam News: "During the pandemic, the number of transactions and revenue paid by MoMo increased dramatically, up three times, which shows the Government's determination to promote online public administrative services, including payments via electronic channels, is correct and in line with the general trends."

Co-founder and Vice President of MoMo Nguyen Ba Diep said his firm was determined to continue to accompany the Government and State agencies across provinces to optimise online payments, and make Viet Nam "a cashless society."

Reviewing the results of the portal after a year, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam said more than 30 per cent of the public administrative procedures went online last year and asked if the rate should be 100 per cent in 2021.

Responding to the Deputy PM, NAPAS, banks and other payment intermediaries have signed commitments to accompany, build and develop the national public service portal and reduce or exempt more payment transactions for public services by the end of 2021.

The portal will continue to focus on the payment for school fees, hospital fees, public services of the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Construction followed the roadmap of the Government. — VNS