Visa International has lured some 200,000 debit and credit cardholders in Vietnam just a few days ahead of 2007, making 2006 a great year for the bank card issuer, said Stuart Tomlinson, Visa chief representative and country manager for Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
“We are very satisfied with our results in 2006, which is a big year for Visa in Vietnam as more banks have begun issuing cards,” he said.
Number of Visa cardholders in Vietnam is growing at an annual rate of 70 per cent, he said.
Such growth is backed by the sharp rise in the number of bank account holders, who are beginning to demand more sophisticated banking products and services, and payment cards are one such service, Tomlinson said.
Visa has seen successful launches with local partner banks such as Eximbank, ACB, Sacombank, ANZ and Techcombank, especially Visa Debit.
With a large population having increasing incomes, opportunities for Visa in Vietnam are huge, Tomlinson said.
Visa has seen a sharp increase in the number of merchants accepting Visa, and with its partner banks Visa is beginning to make progress in overcoming the issue of merchant surcharging.
Tomlinson said that only 6 per cent or so of the Vietnam’s population had a bank account, meaning the current banking penetration is very low. “People generally only move to holding a payment card after they have a savings or current account.”
However, the small number of bank accounts means there is a huge opportunity to expand both banking and card payment services in Vietnam, he said.
After the strong growth in the number of cardholders achieved in 2006, Visa is excited about what Vietnam will offer in 2007.
“We believe our numbers will increase as we plan to introduce more products that fit into the Vietnamese payment environment in 2007,” Tomlinson said.
Visa will launch new products, including pre-paid cards, which will assist with penetration rates as they can be distributed to people without bank accounts.
Visa has worked very closely with 17 partners in Vietnam and Government officials to develop products and services that fit the Vietnamese market and that drive the shift from cash to payment cards, he said.
Visa has an ambitious target for 2007 to reach out to Vietnamese customers through various means including advertising, he said.
“One of our key outreach efforts will be to educate the market about the benefits of payment cards in terms of convenience, security, ease of use, travel, domestic shopping and so forth.”
Tomlinson stressed Visa’s key segments would be supermarkets, hotels and restaurants, filling stations and other utilities. “When we achieve this it will make the value of carrying a Visa card more attractive to shoppers.”
Vietnam is a very cash centered economy, and turning people on to card payments is crucial to Visa’s success, Tomlinson said. (SGT)
Vietnamese
