The card payment market in Vietnam is expected to grow 23.8% to reach 859.2 trillion dong (USD 37.6 billion) in 2022, according to a report by GlobalData.

GlobalData believes that this growth is driven by increased consumption trends and government support in the field of digital payments.

Also according to this report, the value of card payments in Vietnam recorded an increase of 13.7% in 2021, increased sharply from 2.2% in 2020 due to spending reduction due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The gradual recovery and reopening of the economy is the basis for card payments to start having double-digit growth from 2021.

“While cash is still the preferred payment method in Vietnam, card payments have seen high growth thanks to initiatives to promote financial inclusion to raise financial awareness, promote digital payments, and promote access to banking services,” said Ravi Sharma, chief banking and payments analyst at GlobalData.

In October 2021, the Prime Minister approved a project to develop non-cash payments in Vietnam for the period of 2021 - 2015 with many big goals such as 80% of people aged 15 and over having a checking account at banks or other authorized credit institutions and the average growth rate in the number and value of non-cash payment transactions reaches 20-25% per year.

In addition, Vietnam is also investing heavily in payment infrastructure to meet the requirements of non-cash payments.

The number of POS machines in Vietnam has increased from 278,000 in 2019 to nearly 375,000. Besides, there are currently more than 100,000 points accepting payment by QR code.

According to the assessment of credit institutions, customers' demand for loans, payment services and cards and deposits in the third quarter continued to recover sustainably since the fourth quarter of 2021, with the improvement of the following quarter higher than the previous quarter. In which, the demand for loans is considered to be the most improved. 

The demand for loans of businesses is recognized at a higher level than the demand for loans of individual customers and other credit institutions. On that basis, credit institutions expect customers' demand for banking services to "increase" at a stronger rate in the fourth quarter and the whole year of 2022 compared to the previous survey period. In which, the demand for loans is expected to "increase" more than the demand for deposits and payments.

Credit institutions hope that the interest rate level will not fluctuate strongly and maintain at a reasonable level in order to create favorable conditions for businesses and people to access credit capital; This also helps credit institutions achieve the annual plan.

Kylie Nguyen