Encourage NAPAS card payments in traffic

On February 26, the State Bank of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City Branch, in collaboration with the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam (NAPAS) and Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway Company Limited No. 1 (HURC1) organized a "Conference on implementing some traffic payment transactions for NAPAS domestic cards".

The event aims to encourage banks and card organizations to participate in the cashless payment network in the public transport sector, contributing to the development of a modern and convenient payment ecosystem for people.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Tran Dinh Cuong - Deputy Director of the State Bank of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City Branch praised and encouraged banks to improve the efficiency of non-cash payments in the fields of public services such as healthcare, education, and now public transport.

Public transport is also included in public services and is requiring credit institutions to participate in providing non-cash payment services and is even more meaningful when creating convenience from banking payment activities to encourage city residents and tourists to use public transport. To support banks to realize that goal, the SBV will coordinate with NAPAS to provide full information about the network and fee incentives for service providers.

Credit institutions and payment intermediaries participating in public service payments must be on the principle that people using any bank card are allowed to pay. This is also the purpose of developing the bank's modern payment products in different fields to create convenience for users, while increasing values for payment service providers, Mr. Tran Dinh Cuong emphasized.

On NAPAS's side, Mr. Nguyen Dang Hung (Deputy General Director of NAPAS) said: NAPAS has coordinated with HURC1 (the unit exploiting Metro Line 1), Sacombank - the unit implementing payment acceptance - and 25 banks issuing NAPAS cards to complete the integration of payment solutions into the Open loop system of Metro Line 1 (Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien). Accordingly, allowing more than 60 million NAPAS cardholders to use NAPAS cards to replace ticket cards on Metro Line 1 conveniently and quickly.

Also within the framework of the meeting, NAPAS expressed its desire to receive more support from banks that have not participated in the system to expand the digital payment network. In the context of the strong development of digital technology, cooperation between banks, financial institutions and transport operators will create a spillover effect, helping to popularize cashless payments to a large number of people.

To encourage service expansion, NAPAS is committed to implementing preferential fee policies specifically for the public transport sector and public services. NAPAS's goal is to create a modern, smooth payment infrastructure, accompanying the banking system and fintech organizations to provide the most optimal services.

In parallel with supporting fee policies, NAPAS will coordinate with banks to implement communication and marketing programs to raise people's awareness of digital payments. The goal is to create conditions for all people, regardless of the form, to easily access and use this modern payment service.

In recent years, with the development of solutions in the field of electronic tickets and the popularity of bank payment cards, using non-contact technology according to EMV standards, many countries have researched and gradually switched to open-loop transportation payment, allowing customers to pay public transport fees directly by bank card with a variety of means of transport from bus, metro, ...

Using a bank card also helps bypass the queueing stage to buy tickets or deposit money into the ticket card. The open transport payment model also contributes to reducing operating costs for public transport service providers. Instead of having to develop and maintain a separate ticket issuance system and auxiliary systems to handle deposits and withdrawals, units can immediately take advantage of bank cards to use to pay for public transport services.

Assessing the payment trend in the transport sector, the NAPAS representative emphasized: The NAPAS card system is being deployed according to the " Open Loop" model. Unlike traditional ticket payment systems under the " close Loop" model - only used within a certain range, Open Loop allows people to use their own bank cards to pay directly without having to issue specialized cards. This is considered an important step forward in applying digital technology to the payment sector, contributing to the modernization of urban transport in Ho Chi Minh City and expanding nationwide in the future".

According to statistics from Urban Railway Company No. 1 (HURC1), currently, there are an average of nearly 1,000 transactions from NAPAS per day by train passengers. With the potential of large transaction volumes, Ho Chi Minh City is developing a plan to implement cashless payments for more than 2,000 buses and currently Sacombank, MoMo e-wallet, Mastercard... are the first financial institutions to integrate into the Metro No. 1 system.

Ms. Nguyen Phuong Huyen - representative of Sacombank, said that with the support of the City State Bank and NAPAS, this bank has introduced cashless payment products in public transport more quickly. Ho Chi Minh City is aiming to build a dynamic, modern, smart city, cashless payment for public services will be one of the activities connecting to smart modernity.

Also at the event, representatives of NAPAS and HURC1 presented medals and honored pioneering financial institutions in providing products to accept cashless payments on Metro Line 1 Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien.