Hanoi (VNA) –🦹 The Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) organised an online conference on digital signature on November 16. It brought together representatives from ministries, agencies and relevant organisations.

The delegates shared their views that digital signatures would help speed up digital transformation in Vietnam. However, there still remain roadblocks ahead.

Difficulties

The electronic verification in finance-banking, insurance and the stock market has not fully met the needs of both customers and investors, although the sectors are taking the lead in digitalisation in Vietnam. For banks, authentication for transactions is still mainly carried out with SMS OTP, Token OTP and email OTP for individuals and SmartOTP (Soft OTP) for group transactions. These forms of authentication have helped customers reduce travel time, save costs, and conduct transactions safely. However, digital signing has only been utilised within banks. It depends on physical devices like USB token, PC and laptop. Similar issues can be found in the securities market as the current forms of authentication, including digital signing using USB Token, have not really met the needs of investors. As for insurance, transactions are not regular like those in securities or banking sectors. Short-term packages with reasonable prices and remote signing will facilitate the signing of electronic contracts.  Although remote signing has been put into place for a short time, it has proven effective for electronic transactions, significantly contributing to spurring national economic development, especially amid digital transformation. The participating experts pointed out difficulties and challenges, as well as opportunities for the development of digital signing in finance-banking, securities and insurance. According to Phan Thai Dung, deputy head of the Information-Technology Department at the State Bank of Vietnam, digital signing has yet to be rolled out widely in the banking sector due to its high cost. Tran Cong Quynh Lan, Deputy Director of Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank), said although the central bank has allowed VietinBank to open accounts for its clients remotely, big transactions are still conducted in-person. Nguyen Xuan Thai, Deputy General Director of Post and Telecommunication Joint Stock Insurance Corporation (PTI), said that in some cases like account opening or the signing of contracts in the insurance sector, digital signatures are not allowed.

Digital signatures and opportunities

In his remarks, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Huy Dung said the national digital transformation is taking place strongly across spheres, noting that Decision No. 749/QD-TTg on the national digital transformation by 2025 with a vision towards 2030 has concretised digital transformation targets, with people at the centre. The government encourages people to embark on digitalisation in all activities. However, the biggest problem lies with the fact that most people have yet to create their own digital signatures. According to the official, the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIT) has licensed remote signing services for three businesses, including VNPT. To get the licence, all of the enterprises have to undergo strict assessments by competent agencies, said Nguyen Thien Nghia, Deputy Director of the National Electronic Authentication Centre at the MoIT. Ngo Hien Hy, VNPT Deputy Director, said his group’s SmartCA services meet stringent European standards (eIDAS) and can be done on multiple platforms, like smartphone and tablet. To help the public access the services easily, VNPT has studied to flexibly implement SmartCA packages with reasonable prices, he added. According to Fortune Business Insights, the digital signature industry will be worth 7.99 billion USD by 2027. Larger organisations will push the rising adoption of digital signatures, as well as the digitization of corporate processes, as a result of the pandemic. It will have a cascading impact as SMEs improve their digital systems in order to do business with larger businesses. A digital signature solution will eventually become the standard. It's logical. A paperless digital signature system can improve workflow efficiency, ease, and speed./.