VietinBank system overloaded near Tet, transactions interrupted
On the 28th of Tet, Mr. Pham Quy (born in 1970) went to have breakfast with his family. When it was time to pay the bill, the VietinBank banking app kept reporting that the transaction was temporarily interrupted. Mr. Quy angrily called the switchboard but the call could not be made.
"I was helpless because I didn't have any money on me. Now we only need a phone to pay, so my family rarely carries cash with them. In the end, I had to go home to get my wallet," Mr. Quy shared.
On social networks, some customers expressed their frustration when transactions were interrupted at a crucial time.
Others reported that the money transfer had not yet reached the recipient or that transactions could not be made via the app.
Ms. Van Anh - a customer of VietinBank shared: 2 days ago, the VietinBank IPay app also had an error once. There are a lot of payment transactions in the days before Tet, it is really inconvenient.
In response to customer feedback, VietinBank issued an apology and explained the reason for the incident. According to the bank, the sudden increase in transactions at the end of the year caused the system to overload. VietinBank also advised customers to make transactions at other times to avoid disruptions.
“We look forward to receiving your sympathy and are committed to resolving the issue as soon as possible,” VietinBank announced. See more...
A job that serves hundreds of guests every day, working non-stop during Tet
Yen held back, slides back
The Japanese Yen (JPY) gave up most of its gains against the US Dollar (USD) in trading on January 27. This happened after the White House announced that Colombia had agreed to take back illegal immigrants deported by the US.
Additionally, a slight recovery in the US dollar from its lowest level in more than a month also helped USD/JPY return to near daily highs. However, a sharp depreciation of the Japanese yen is unlikely as the Bank of Japan (BoJ) remains on track to continue raising interest rates.
In addition, uncertainty over US President Donald Trump’s trade policies is boosting demand for the Japanese yen, which is seen as a safe-haven asset. At the same time, the possibility of the US Federal Reserve (Fed) cutting interest rates continues to restrain the strong USD rally. The recent narrowing of the yield spread between the US and Japan also contributed to supporting the Japanese yen, limiting further USD/JPY gains. See more...
Peach and kumquat prices reduced by more than 50% but still no customers
On January 27, just one day before the new year of At Ty (2025), the atmosphere at major flower markets such as Lac Long Quan Street or Nguyen Hoang Ton Street (Hanoi) was unusually gloomy. Although prices had dropped sharply, the ornamental plant market still did not attract the expected number of customers.
Ms. Huyen, a kumquat tree seller in the Lac Long Quan area, shared that this year's revenue has decreased significantly compared to previous years. "The price of kumquat trees this year is 300,000-500,000 VND/tree lower than last year, but the number of customers has not increased. If last year I could sell 400-500 kumquat trees during Tet, this year I will probably only sell about 200 trees."
Not only has the number of kumquat trees sold decreased compared to last year, but the price of kumquat trees has also dropped sharply in the last days before Tet. “Today is the 28th of Tet, if a kumquat tree was sold for 800,000 VND 5 days ago, today I have reduced it to 300,000 VND, but there are still very few buyers.”
According to Ms. Huyen, the sluggish market situation this year comes from many causes, but the most important is the difficult economic situation that makes people tighten their spending. Although peach and kumquat are traditional symbols of Tet, many families have chosen to cut their home decoration budget to spend on more essential needs, or choose ornamental plants with lower prices, causing the price of peach and kumquat to decrease accordingly. See more...
