T.N, a VietinBank client in Thanh Xuan district in Hanoi, said she could not transfer money through the VietinBank iPay mobile banking system on January 10.

“When I logged into VietinBank iPay, I saw a notice on the screen that the number of clients accessing the system had soared, so my request was rejected to ensure service quality for clients in transactions,” she said.

Later, she successfully made a transaction on the second try.

VietNamNet tried to contact VietinBank’s media executive but no reply was received after two days.

Clients of Military Bank also complained that they could not make fast money transfers because "the bank cannot accept transactions under the form of quick transfer at this moment". Other clients were informed that "the system is under maintenance".

N.T.H, a client of Military Bank, said she failed to transfer VND30 million to a partner on January 12 after many attempts. Therefore, she had to go directly to the bank to make transactions.

On January 9, TPBank’s clients reported that they could not access their accounts to transfer money as the system reported errors. The same problem occurred with NCB on the evening of January 6.

A representative of the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam (NAPAS) told VietNamnet that the demand for online money transferring this Tet is higher than in 2022. At the same time last year, NAPAS recognized 15-16 million transactions each day.

He said that NAPAS’ system can ensure smooth payment services via cards, bank accounts, QR Code and Mobile Money, even if the number of transactions is 3-4 times higher than now.

Though commercial banks have really upgraded their systems, the overload still occurs sometimes, but just for a while. All banks have their technology officers to fix problems immediately.

According to the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), the number of non-cash transactions in the first 11 months of 2022 grew by 85.6 percent and the value grew by 31.39 percent compared with the same period 2021. The transactions increased by 89.36 percent and 40.55 percent, respectively via internet, 116.1 percent and 92.3 percent via mobile phones, 182.5 and 210.6 percent via QR Code, 53.57 and 48.78 percent via POS, and 13.28 percent and 14.04 percent via ATM. 

Tuan Nguyen