Some banks and e-wallets do not allow online money transfers without biometric authentication.

One week before the State Bank's January 1, 2025 deadline for biometric authentication, some banks and e-wallets "urge" and require customers to update before making online transactions.

Mr. Huy Phuong (Ho Chi Minh City) said that when he booked a ride-hailing service and chose to pay with MoMo, he received a request for biometric authentication from this e-wallet. He was forced to update to be able to pay online.

Not only MoMo, some banks such as VietinBank also require customers to authenticate biometrics. This is to reduce overload on days close to the New Year, according to VietinBank Deputy General Director Tran Cong Quynh Lan.

According to Mr. Quynh Lan, January 1, 2025 coincides with the New Year holiday, banks are not working, if customers have problems transferring money online, it will be inconvenient. "To avoid account holders experiencing transaction interruptions, we proactively ask them to complete biometric updates one week in advance. Staff at branches and transaction offices directly support customers in case they have difficulty self-authentication," said Mr. Lan. Currently, nearly 86% of VietinBank customers have completed biometric authentication.

A representative of the Bank of Vietnam (BVBank) also shared that since November, the bank has guided and directed customers to update their biometrics before making electronic transactions. Up to now, most of the customers who regularly make online transactions have registered.

In addition, banks have also increased branch hours to help people complete their biometric updates on time. For example, VietinBank opened its transaction offices on Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the second half of December.

Similarly, hundreds of Vietcombank transaction points also operate on weekends and extend daily transaction hours to 6:30 p.m. to support account holders. As of early December, nearly 8.5 million customers of this bank had updated their biometrics.

According to the reporter's records, there was no congestion or long waiting time for customers to update biometric information at transaction points or bank branches. Banks have arranged support equipment for people who have problems with their smartphones or phones that do not have NFC scanning function.

However, due to the rush to update information at the end of the year, authentication problems occurred at some points at some banks. The applications of some banks such as VPBank, VIB... at some points did not recognize the new ID card well, even though customers had registered to change information from the old ID card with the bank.

According to a bank transaction office on Huynh Tan Phat Street (District 7, Ho Chi Minh City), in addition to the elderly who have difficulty using the app, the rest of the customers mainly encounter problems when the app cannot read NFC information or recognize the new citizen identification card model.

Mr. Minh Thai (Cau Giay, Hanoi) tried to authenticate information using the chip-embedded citizen ID card via the app many times but failed and encountered errors in the ID photo taking step or connecting the NFC chip.

He was forced to go to the bank branch on Tran Thai Tong Street (Cau Giay) to complete the authentication, but could not do it because the bank's system was overloaded. A few days later, he returned to this branch, and his authentication procedures were completed in about 10 minutes, after the system was back up and running.

According to the State Bank's regulations, some banking transactions require biometric authentication from January 1, 2025. Specifically, Circular 17 stipulates that account holders can only withdraw money and make payments electronically on their payment accounts after completing the verification of their identity documents; biometric information issued by the police or through the electronic identification and authentication system (VNeID).

Circular 18 also requires that online card transactions can only be performed when the cardholder has authenticated biometrics with the bank, financial company... Direct card transactions at retail points (POS) and ATMs still take place normally, without requiring biometrics.