Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The State Bank of Vietnam isdrafting a circular regarding cashless payments which might allow domesticcommercial banks and domestic intermediary payment companies to co-operate withforeign intermediary payment companies to provide international paymentservices.

Under current regulations, domestic banks are onlyallowed to cooperate with foreign banks and international cardorganisations for international payments.

There are no regulations for international payments madevia foreign e-wallets as well as about international payments that don'tgo through payment accounts.

This loophole in the era of Industry 4.0 has seen arapid boom of international payment methods.

In recent years there has been huge demand for paymentsvia foreign e-wallets such as Wechat Pay and Alipay from Chinese touristsin Vietnam. Vietnam attracts a large number of Chinese tourists every year.

Some banks and intermediary payment companies have asked thecentral bank to allow them to co-operate with foreign intermediary paymentcompanies to serve international demand while exploiting the largepotential of this segment.

Nguyen Hung, General Director of TPBank, said domesticbanks could not cooperate with foreign e-wallets like Wechat Pay andAlipay at the moment due to the lack of a legal framework. “We are gettingready to start but must wait for the green light from the central bank,” Hungwas quoted by Dau Tu (Investment) online newspaper as saying.

According to Pham Tien Dung, director of the central bank’sPayment Department, the Industry 4.0 revolution had created a number of newinternational payment models. Previously, international payments were mainlyconducted via bank accounts and credit cards, but now e-wallets wereemerging, he added.

“It is clear that the definition of international paymentmust be changed. People should be able to make international payments throughtheir banks and also via intermediary payment methods,” he said. “In achanging world, the management method needs to change,” Dung stressed.

Along with technological advances, cross-border paymentsare becoming much easier. Cross-border intermediary payment platformsare booming around the world, attracting not only fintech companiesbut also big corporations such as Amazon, Apple and Google.

Experts predicted there would be a wave of co-operationbetween banks and domestic fintech companies with foreign e-wallets after thecentral bank gave the green light, which would also provide supportfor the tourism and e-commerce industries.

E-wallets are developing rapidly in Vietnam. AppotaPayreceived a licence from the State Bank of Vietnam in October, making itthe 39th intermediary payment company in Vietnam.

The COVID-19 pandemic was also pushing the developmentof cashless payments among the country's 97 million population, about 70percent of whom have access to the internet and 45 percentuse smartphones.

Statistics from the central bank showed that as of theend of the first quarter, there were about 13 million activated e-walletaccounts in Vietnam with a total outstanding balance of 1.36 trillion VND (58.62million USD).

More than 225 million transactions were conducted, worth 77.7trillion VND, via e-wallets in the first quarter./.