The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) has asked banks to provide enough switchboard operators and improve technical infrastructure to process complaints efficiently.

The SBV said it found through monitoring that the hotlines of some banks were not operating effectively, making it very difficult for customers and cardholders to request assistance in emergency cases. This has been a cause for concern and has been reported in different forms of mass media.

In order to ensure the quality of services, the State Bank has required banks to address the issue to promptly receive and handle the inspection and complaints of customers.

Banks must take the initiative in explaining and promptly responding to opinions expressed on mass media regarding the quality of card payment services to avoid pulling down consumer trust in the quality of payment services offered by banks and the development of non-cash payment regulations by the Government and the State Bank, the SBV said.

The SBV made the issuance in the context of recent outbreaks in card fraud. In many cases, cardholders have a hard time contacting the bank switchboard to request for account lockout after finding out that their accounts had been hacked, resulting in loss of money. There have also been cases where customers have complained about difficulties in contacting the switchboard to ask for emergency card lock after losing their card either by their own doing or as a result of a machine failing to eject their card. — VNS