Vietnam to require biometric authentication for some online money transfers to cut fraud

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) plans to introduce biometric authentication for major online money transfer operations as a way of putting the rising wave of online financial fraud in the country in check.

According to Vietnam Plus, the deputy head of the SBV’s payment department, Le Anh Dung, said during a recent seminar that as part of the plan, authentication using fingerprint, iris or face biometrics would soon be needed for all online money transfers possibly exceeding 10 million Vietnamese dong (US$411).

The seminar was dedicated to discussing ways of better protecting bank accounts from increasing online fraud.

Dung also disclosed a further plan to amend some provisions of Decision 630 of the SBV, which gives credit institutions the greenlight to deploy new authentication technologies for internet and mobile banking.

The seminar mentions that despite the high rate of online financial fraud in Vietnam, over 90 percent of financial transactions do not surpass the 10 million Dong threshold, meaning this amount could be a reference for authorities in setting the transfer limit requiring biometric verification.

During a seminar in August, the issue of fraud in the internet and mobile banking sector also came under serious scrutiny, with the SBV’s director of payments, Pham Anh Tuan, saying that they were already thinking of a minimum transfer amount for which the owner of the funds must be identified biometrically. Tuan added that they were also in talks for collaboration with MasterCard and Visa whose payment cards are also used by Vietnamese people for their online financial transactions.

Vietnam.vn however, quoted SBV Payment Department Director Pham Anh Tuan as saying that the government will allow credit institutions the time to get the necessary infrastructure in place before the new dispensation comes into effect.

In a blog post, ID verification and document recognition platform, Verigram explains how biometric identity verification can inspire user confidence regarding the safety and security of their data. This was one of the highlights of the Fintech Revolution Summit which took place in March in the capital Hanoi.

The article notes that since 2021 the Vietnamese government has ramped up efforts to popularize the use of biometrics for ID documents such as passports with the rollout of a chip-based biometric passport and for airport checks.

Verigram says it presented its latest ID verification solution at the Hanoi event which was dominated by discussions on fraud prevention methods for various sectors including banking and finance, as well as the importance of data security.

Vietnam has seen steady progress lately in its digital transformation through the growing adoption of the country’s digital ID and implementation of regulations.

Article Topics

authentication  |  biometrics  |  face biometrics  |  financial services  |  fingerprint biometrics  |  iris recognition  |  payments