“NHNN Payment Department Head: Use of Bank Account Pseudonyms to Be Banned; Many Victims of Misdirected Transfers with No Recourse”

Mr. Pham Anh Tuan, Director of the Payment Department (SBV), shared that alongside the digital transformation that brings convenience to citizens, the banking sector pays extra attention to safety, security, and confidentiality.

Circular 17, which will take effect on July 1, 2024, mandates the collection of biometric information for opening and using payment accounts to enable online transactions. “In other words, if there is no need for online transactions, there may be no requirement to provide biometric information or compare it with the national database. In such cases, customers must transact at the counter, where a teller verifies the information between the transactor and the citizen’s identity card,” he said.

The SBV leader also shared that they plan to amend Circular 17, which will take effect this year, and tighten regulations on transactions involving organizational accounts. This will include requiring businesses to visit banks in person to open accounts and not accepting any form of account opening by mail or authorizing others to bring documents for account opening.

Additionally, the amendments will mandate the collection of biometric information from all individuals and organizations when opening accounts to ensure account ownership. Simultaneously, the use of technology for authentication will be mandatory.

“For customers presenting their citizen identity cards at the counter, many credit institutions currently rely on tellers’ visual comparisons. However, the new circular will mandate the use of technology for verification to ensure accuracy rather than relying on the subjective judgment of tellers,” said Mr. Tuan.

Furthermore, the SBV will encourage and urge credit institutions and payment intermediaries to adopt VNeID for comparison and data matching. This will address the existing issue of user experience when scanning NFC.

In the coming time, the SBV will also amend the regulations for newly established organizational accounts, giving them a period of six or nine months (to be decided after consulting with credit institutions and enterprises) to comply with online transaction verification requirements, similar to individual customers. This will focus on organizations engaged in business activities, such as individual business households, and will not affect the operations of large enterprises and corporations.

Explaining the move to tighten transaction verification regulations for enterprises, Mr. Tuan mentioned that there have been cases of criminal organizations using corporate accounts to commit fraud.

Another notable point shared by the SBV leader is the prohibition of using aliases (unique transaction names for each customer) for accounts. This decision was made following a proposal from the Ministry of Public Security. Aliases have caused misunderstandings for senders, for instance, an individual opening an account and creating an alias like “national company” or “global,” leading senders to mistake it for a legitimate company name.

“We have received complaints from consumers who mistakenly transferred money to alias accounts and could not retrieve their funds, causing significant losses. In the new circular, we will not allow the use of aliases, and recipients must provide specific account numbers,” Mr. Tuan stated.