Cashless payment services bring new conveniences to buyers and sellers. Photo vietnamplus.vn

HÀ NỘI — Commercial banks are offering promotional programmes to encourage cashless payments during the busy Tết shopping season.

Users of the VPBank NEO app can play games to win cash prizes from a VNĐ20 billion pool when they transfer money or pay bills in the app, reported Sài Gòn Giải Phóng (Liberated Saigon) newspaper.

Sacombank has launched a programme offering small amounts of gold as a refund to some customers making QR code payments via the Sacombak Pay app.

Other commercial banks like the Vietnam Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MSB), VPBank and TPBank now also let users send “lì xì” (lucky money) through their apps. Users of this service will qualify for a chance to receive prizes worth up to hundreds of millions of đồng.

Nguyễn Đức Lệnh, deputy director of a State Bank of Vietnam branch in Hồ Chí Minh City, said cashless payment services are convenient and cost-effective for both sellers and buyers, and that they help boost sales for businesses during busy shopping seasons like Tết.

Commercial banks are also running promotional programmes to facilitate cashless transactions for household businesses and traders at traditional street markets.

An official at Nam A Bank said the promotion of QR code payments for small businesses has contributed to a safe and modern payment environment and helped improve business competitiveness and service quality.

Cahsless payment services have also helped reduce demand for cash withdrawals from automated teller machines (ATMs) ahead of Tết, cutting down on wait times at the machines.

According to the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam (NAPAS), cash withdrawals from ATMs have been declining over the past year. In 2023, ATM withdrawals made up only 3.6 per cent of all transactions across the country.

Meanwhile, the NAPAS system averaged over 20 million transactions each day in 2023. This was a 52 per cent increase in transaction volume and a 12 per cent increase in transaction value over 2022.