Vietcombank Pilots Domestic Clearing Payment for Visa Cards
The State Bank of Vietnam licensed the Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) to run domestic clearing system for Visa cards on a pilot basis, according to Decision 331/QD-NHNN dated March 6, 2006.
Accordingly, Vietcombank will be allowed to work as the major payment channel for Visa card transactions inside Vietnam and work as a domestic clearing bank to Visa card transactions of domestic members via their accounts in Vietcombank.
As scheduled, the pilot duration is set at one year.
Vietcombank is also liable to periodically report clearing activities to the central bank every three months.
Presently, Visa International has 22,000 member banks worldwide of which 15 are in Vietnam.
By December, 2005, total Visa cards issued by Vietnam banks amounted some 85,000 with total transaction volume of more than US$85 million of which transaction volume in Vietnam accounted for some 20 per cent or US$17 million.
According to a recent survey conducted by the Deposit Insurance of Vietnam (DIV), Visa card is the most favorite foreign debit card in Vietnam followed by MasterCard and Discovery.
It is reported that 6,000 points of sale (Pos) and 800 automated teller machines (ATMs) accept Visa cards in Vietnam.
The card payment growth of Visa and member banks posts nearly 40 per cent per annum.
SBV
April 24–25, 2026
Kinh Bac Cultural Center, Bac Ninh Province
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