Vietnam urges corporate banking customers to complete biometric verification as deadline looms

Vietnam is making biometric verification integral to corporate banking.

From July 1 corporate bank customers will only be allowed to withdraw funds or conduct electronic payment transactions if their legal representatives have completed biometric and ID document verification.

Many banks have begun notifying business customers to verify required information to avoid service disruptions, Vietnam Net reports. Banks are requiring legal representatives of businesses and organizations to complete identity and biometric verification before July 1.

Failure to meet these requirements, which was issued by the State Bank of Vietnam, will result in the temporary suspension of all digital payment and withdrawal services associated with the corporate accounts.

Biometric verification can be done through the bank’s mobile app, or by visiting a physical bank branch to provide biometric data and manually complete verification. On the app users will be prompted to sync stored personal data, and if a legal representative has completed biometric verification already the app will prompt them to confirm and complete OTP verification.

Electronic transactions will only be permitted if the biometric data and identity documents of the account holder or legal representative match encrypted ID card data, such as the citizen ID card, or through a verified digital identity account.

For foreign nationals, it has to match biometric data collected via direct in-person verification. While for those with ID cards without encrypted data, biometric information stored in the National Population Database can be used.

The new regulation is mandated under Clause 5(c), Article 17 of Circular 17/2024/TT-NHNN and marks Vietnam’s move toward increased digital banking security and alignment with Vietnam’s expanding e-identification ecosystem.

Since July 2024, the State Bank of Vietnam has mandated financial institutions to implement end-to-end biometric verification for digital transactions. Vietnamese digital banks including Techcombank and Vietcombank have quickly integrated face biometrics to comply with the mandate.

Vietnam’s Cake Digital Bank became the first digital-only bank in Southeast Asia to pass iBeta’s test for detecting sophisticated face biometric presentation attacks under the ISO standard. “Achieving the highest international ISO standard for facial biometrics with a solution developed entirely in-house by our Vietnamese engineering team is a remarkable milestone for Cake,” said Nguyễn Hữu Quang, CEO of Cake Digital Bank.

Developed in-house by Cake’s team of engineers, Cake Face Authen uses Passive Liveness Detection to verify a user’s identity. Currently, more than 15 million people in Vietnam use Cake Face Authen.

Ho Chi Minh City is finalizing e-ID issuance

Vietnam’s biggest commercial hub is working to finalize the issuance of electronic identification accounts for all businesses this week. Ho Chi Minh City is targeting May 30 for the full issuance of e-ID accounts to businesses.

As of May 19, the city had issued e-ID accounts to more than 33,400 agencies, according to Vietnam News, which only makes up about 9.7 percent of the total number of more than 345,300 businesses and cooperatives.

Agencies, organizations and businesses have been urged to expedite completion of their e-ID account registration. It is recommended to register online through the VNeID app to streamline the process.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital company ID  |  digital ID  |  financial services  |  ID verification  |  identity verification  |  KYB  |  KYC  |  Vietnam  |  VNeID