Hanoi (VNA) - Thirty-seven commercial banks have confirmed thereduction of fees for fast interbank fund transfers following the move of theNational Payment Corporation of Vietnam (NAPAS) to halve the switching feesfor local banks from March 25.

This aimed to promote cashless payments as a measure to prevent the spread ofthe COVID-19 pandemic.

NAPAS on March 25 to cut its service fees for electronic switching for localbanks from 1,800 VND to 900 VND per transaction of sums worth 500,001 VND to 2million VND each, which enabled local banks to reduce the interbank fundtransfer fees to customers.

The thirty-seven commercial banks which slashed their fees accounted for 98.9percent of the total fund transfer transactions processed by NAPAS.

Of them, 14, accounting for 41.9 percent of fund transfer transactionsprocessed by NAPAS cut their fees to zero for transactions conducted on allmoney transfer channels, namely Techcombank, TBBank, MBBank, VPBank, MSB,PvcomBank, Viet Capital Bank, OCB, BaoViet Bank, Hong Leong Bank, SeaBank,Eximbank and UOB. Shinhan Bank offered zero charges for transactions viaInternet and Mobile banking.

The other 23 banks cut their fees more or equal to the NAPAS’s fee reduction.Their fees now ranged from 1,000 VND to 10,000 VND depending on customers andtransaction channels.

In mid-February, NAPAS cut the fee for electronic switching from 1,800 VND to 500VND per transaction for sums worth 500,000 VND or less, which made 43 out of 45member banks of NAPAS cut fees for customers by 90 percent. Some even offeredzero charges.

A representative from NAPAS said that reducing fees would significantly affectNAPAS’s revenue but cutting fees would be critical to prevent the spread of theCOVID-19 pandemic, promote cashless payment and create favourable conditionsfor e-commerce and online shopping.

The total number of fast interbank fund transfer transactions of sums worth 500,000VND and less in March increased more than 32 percent over February./.