The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) will deal strictly with credit institutions if people cannot withdraw money from their ATM in the months approaching Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday.

People queue to draw money at the Vietcombank ATM. — File Photo

The SBV has asked them to ensure all ATMs are operational at this moment when there is high demand for cash transactions, said Pham Tien Dung, director of the SBV’s Payment Department.

Pham Bao Lam, director of the SBV’s Issue and Vault Department, said that from the beginning of December 2017, the SBV had transferred cash to the State Bank’s branches in provinces and cities, especially those with many industrial zones and ATMs, such as Ha Noi, HCM City, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, Dong Nai and Binh Duong.

The State Bank has regularly monitored cash flow and cash balances at provincial and municipal branches, concentrating all resources to meet people’s demand for cash.

Dung said that besides monitoring credit institutions to ensure the quality of services, security and safety of ATM operation, the SBV will deal strictly with credit institutions that have created situations where people cannot withdraw money from all their ATMs, according to the Decree 96/2014/ND-CP on sanctioning administrative violations in the monetary and banking activities.

Earlier, the State Bank also required banks to check their ATM systems to ensure the security of card payment. Attention must be paid to upgrading software and operating and maintaining cameras to ensure the ATM systems are working efficiently.

Commercial banks must regularly monitor the operation of the ATM system, especially in industrial zones, export processing zones and densely populated areas, to actively solve technical problems and cases where ATMs are out of money for smooth operation.

The commercial banks also actively work with enterprises to adjust the time for paying wages to reduce the load for ATMs in industrial parks and export processing zones. They should prepare cash reserves for direct cash payment to meet the demand for salary payment and bonus for Lunar New Year holiday in areas that face overload. — VNS