Twenty eight e-wallets have been licensed, but 80 percent of market share belongs to only five of them, according to the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV).

They are Payoo, MoMo, SenPay, Moca and Airpay. Airpay, MoMo, Senpay, Moca and VTC Pay have the highest issued cumulative volume.

In the second quarter of the year, 95 percent of the market’s total transaction value focused on five e-wallets – Payoo, MoMo, Senpay, Airpay and ZaloPay.

According to Truong Hong Lien from EY Consulting, e-wallet is used for daily spending with small transaction value. Therefore, the wallets which have ecosystems large enough (with regular transactions) and regular promotions will obtain market share.

According to JP Morgan, 19 percent of e-commerce transaction value in Vietnam is implemented via e-wallets. The value of e-commerce transactions via e-wallets is equal to that of cash payment, third to card payment (34 percent) and bank transfer (22 percent).

In Vietnam, Senpay and Airpay are the e-wallets with highest advantages as they belong to e-commerce ecosystems. Backed by FPT Group, Senpay is used as a transaction method between Sendo, a marketplace, and shop owners. Sendo customers can also make transactions with Senpay wallet.

Currently, Sendo is one of the top 4 marketplaces in Vietnam, with a high number of customers including domestic sellers and buyers mostly from provinces.

As for AirPay, the e-wallet is the product of Vietnam Esports (the predecessor was Garena Vietnam), backed by SEA Group (which owns Shopee marketplace and Garena, the online entertainment platform). SEA is also the investor which poured money into Foody (Now) eatery service.

AirPay in Vietnam not only has an ecosystem from Shopee, but also benefits from customers who buy game cards from Garena and order food online via Now.

ZaloPay, a well known name in Vietnam, had the highest transaction value in the second quarter. ZaloPay received a license to operate as e-wallet in 2016, owned by Zion, belonging to VNG. ZaloPay is a payment method used on Tiki, the marketplace to which VNG contributes capital, and is one of three marketplaces with the highest number of visitors. The advantage of ZaloPay lies in the 100 million Zalo users and VNG’s gamers.

Other e-wallets including MoMo, Moca and Payoo don’t have such advantages, but they still have large market share thanks to the ecosystems they developed themselves. Of these, MoMo is considered the pioneer in the market as it received a license in 2009.