Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam has said there is a need for all ministries and relevant agencies to co-ordinate and connect with specific policies to promote electronic payments. – Photo ndh.vn

HA NOI – Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam has said there is a need for all ministries and relevant agencies to co-ordinate and connect with specific policies to promote electronic payments.

He said there was a need to minimise cash payment, and make e-payments compulsory while encouraging its use.

Deputy PM Dam made the comment during a Viet Nam E-payment Forum on Thursday in Ha Noi to discuss three major topics that included combining efforts by Government departments to promote online tax collecting, tax payments and encouraging online payment in e-commerce and retail, promoting online payment in transport and the ability of connecting to other payment activities in Viet Nam, and opportunities and challenges facing Viet Nam’ banking sector brought by Fintech companies.

The deputy PM said that currently Viet Nam had about 125,000 public services provided by the government and authorised agencies. Of these, only 1,200 services had implemented e-technology in their services.

The Government has approved a master development plan of e-commerce from now until 2020. However, the implementation of e-payment is still limited and the habit of making cash payments was not easy to change, Dam told the forum.

To promote e-payments, Bui Quang Tien, Director of the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV)’s Payment System Department said the central bank has made many important recommendations by asking the Ministry of Finance to propose tax policies to encourage e-tax payment and e-payment in e-commerce development in retail shops.

The SBV will complete a legal corridor and initiate policies to encourage e-payment via the automated clearinghouse (ACH) and ask National Payment Corporation of Vietnam (NAPAS) to build ACH system, and continue to complete financial switching system to promote and improve the efficiency of e-payment in e-commerce and e-tax payment.

Lai Viet Anh, Deputy Head of Vietnam E-Commerce and Information Technology Agency (VECITA) said that 7 per cent of payments were made online in e-commerce.

She said more efficient solutions should be envisaged apart from incentives to exempt or refund tax for businesses who use e-payment service.

Instead of using administrative measures, the participation of intermediaries such as companies who provide intermediate e-payment services should be encouraged. When users recognised substantial benefits from e-payment service, they would automatically begin e-payment.

Also at the forum, Nguyen Manh Thang Deputy Director of Directorate for Roads of Viet Nam, said that promoting online payment in transport was a need and toll collection without asking drivers to stop would benefit them in many ways.

However, in Viet Nam, this plan was encountering problems. He attributed the problems to obsolete technology which was inconveniencing users and co-ordination between road project investors and authorised bodies was still poor.

Nguyen Hong Truong, deputy minister of transport, said the transport sector had many services relating to e-payment. The transport ministry had conducted a roadmap for toll collection. It would make efforts to remove barriers at toll stations by 2019. The government recently has also asked his ministry to study post-paid electronic toll collection.

Vu Quang Lam, from VETC Vietnam Joint Stock Company, said there were currently several types of e-payment smart cards for toll collection. Drivers should only have only one type of smart card thus making it easy for them.

Truong said in time to come, there will be only one kind of smart card for toll collection which would make it convenient for users.

Proposals for toll collection

At the forum, Truong Gia Binh CEO of FPT Corporation proposed four solutions to the Government and relevant ministries to improve e-payment in toll collection.

He wanted the government to soon issue regulations and a roadmap for users to implement compulsory e-payment in toll collection and payment in public transport. The Ministry of Transport and local authorities have been asked to work with the SBV to soon have a standard e-payment solution with the ability of connecting to other payment activities in the public sector to avoid wasting resources.

The Ministry of Transport has been requested to instruct relevant bodies to agree sharing revenues from toll collection between Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) investors and Build-Own-Operate (BOO) investors so as to spur the development of automatic electronic toll collection nationwide.

The SBV and Ministry of Transport have been asked to offer incentives and enhance mass media to boost e-payment in transport. – VNS