Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has approved the national strategy for financial inclusion until 2030, with a vision to 2030, the governmental portal reported.

The the strategy is aimed to ensure all citizens and enterprises have access to financial products and services in a convenient way and at affordable prices, particularly for low-income and vulnerable people, small and micro-sized enterprises.

The scope of the strategy is to expand the coverage of basic financial services and products from qualified providers, including payment, money transfer, saving, loan and insurance.

By the end of 2025, the strategy targets to have at least 80% of adults in Vietnam having bank accounts; 50% or more of communes will have access to financial services; at least 25 – 30% adults will have saving accounts at credit institutions; the number of non-cash transactions will expand 20 – 25% annually; at least 250,000 small and medium enterprises can have access to bank loans; the ratio of outstanding loans for agricultural sector to total outstanding loans for the economy will be 25%; market premium revenue will reach around 3.5% of the GDP.

To achieve these targets, the strategy provides a number of solutions, including perfecting the legal framework to support materialization of objectives of financial inclusion; diversifying financial services providers and supporting channels to ensure greater coverage of financial services and products; upgrading financial infrastructures and reducing transaction fees, among others.

As of present, just 40% of citizens in Vietnam have bank accounts. However, the majority of daily transactions are conducted in cash.

Under the plan on non-cash payment in Vietnam in the 2016 - 2020 period approved by the prime minister, by the end of 2020, the ratio of cash transactions will be reduced from 90% in 2016 to below 10%. Hanoitimes

Nguyen Tung