Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The Government willcontinue to fine-tune legal regulations to popularise the payment of publicservices through banks, deputy governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)Nguyen Kim Anh said at a forum on accelerating the payment of public servicesvia banks held in Hanoi on August 24.

The Government early this year approved a projecton fostering the payment of public services, such as tax, electricity, water,tuition, hospital fees and social and public welfare programmes, via banking.

Accordingly, the Government has set itself atarget of collecting 80 percent of tax payments in cities through banks andenabling treasuries in all provinces and cities to have cashless paymentsystems by 2020.

Non-cash payments are expected to be accepted by70 percent of electricity and water suppliers, all universities and colleges,and 50 percent of hospitals in major cities. Meanwhile, some 20 percent ofsocial welfare payments will be made through banks.

Bui Sy Loi, vice chairman of the NationalAssembly’s Committee on Social Affairs, said that the payment of publicservices through banks should be accelerated as it helps limit the amount ofcash in circulation, thereby reducing costs related to printing, transporting,preserving and destroying old and torn money.

Anh said that the payment via banks for publicservices is still modest, with focus mainly on the customer groups beinginstitutions and firms in big cities and provinces.

Pham Thanh Du, deputy director of the VietnamSocial Insurance’s Finance and Accounting Department, said that the number ofpeople who receive monthly pensions and social insurance in bank accounts makesup for a small proportion compared to the number of beneficiaries. Only 21percent of monthly pensions and social insurance were paid to bank accounts byFebruary this year, mainly in big cities.

Du attributed the limit to the long-standing habitof using cash only. The number of ATMs in remote areas is modest, he said.

According to Pham Tien Dung, director of SBV’sPayment Department, some policies, bank infrastructure and local habits on theuse of cash are hindering such transactions.

“The connection between banks and serviceproviders is still restricted while the information exchange and data access relatingto the payment of public service are also limited,” Dung said.

According to SBV’s reports, 50 banks currentlyprovide tax and customs payment services while 26 banks are involved inproviding electricity and water payment services, and 11 banks are implementingtuition fee payment services for students at universities.

The report also showed that payments via Internetreached 127 million transactions with value of more than 8 trillion VND (341.27million USD) in the first six months of 2018, rising by 50 percent in numberand 32 percent in value year-on-year.

Mobile payments in the period also surged by 32percent in volume and 144 percent in value year-on-year to reach 81 milliontransactions and 676 billion VND.- VNS/VNA