Chủ Nhật, 19/02/2017, 20:26 (GMT+7)
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First mobile banking for the poor launched

The Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP) has launched a mobile banking service designed to improve the access of disadvantaged people.
Hoang Minh Te, deputy general director of Vietnam Bank for Social Policies delivers a speech at the lauching ceremony (Photo: VNA)
Hoang Minh Te, deputy general director of Vietnam Bank for Social Policies delivers a speech at the lauching ceremony (Photo: VNA)

The project, which is supported by the Australian Government’s Business Partnerships Platform, aims to increase access to a full range of financial services for low-income households, especially women-led micro-enterprises that lack access to traditional banking services.

The project will be implemented in co-operation between VBSP, Mastercard and the Asian Foundation over three years.
 
Vietnam has undergone a rapid evolution in information and communications technology with telecommunications networks covering almost the entire country and adults owning mobile phones. However, the use of mobile technology for financial transactions is relatively rare and cash transactions remain pervasive.
 
VBSP will send account-related information via SMS texts to clients, thus improving transparency and reducing delinquency rates. The bank will pilot mobile banking for customers to make its transaction procedures automatic.
 
Being a specialised and the biggest State-owned financial institution, the bank has provided financial services, especially loans to help reduce poverty and achieve social targets effectively.
 
VBSP’s strength is a nationwide network of 63 branches, 629 transaction offices, nearly 200,000 savings and credit groups in more than 11,000 communes.
 
It serves nearly seven million customers with total outstanding loans of VND157 trillion. Nearly 80% of the debtors live in rural and remote areas.
 
(Source: NDO)
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