The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has outlined its plan to mandate the use of face authentication as a security measure for all money transfers starting April next year to protect bank accounts from increasing online fraud risks.

“It is expected that starting from April 1, 2024, facial authentication of account holders will be enforced using the National Population Database for all financial transactions,” Pham Anh Tuan, director general of the Payment Department under the SBV, said during a Friday seminar on solutions for customer information security and fraud prevention.

"The face presented during the transaction must match the one stored in the chip of the citizen identification card."

The SBV expects the face authentication to help deter unauthorized access to bank accounts and e-wallet transactions, ultimately reducing financial fraud, Tuan added. 

To achieve this, the SBV has set a deadline for banks and payment intermediaries to establish connections with the National Population Database by December 31.

At another seminar held on September 19, Le Anh Dung, deputy director general of the SBV’s Payment Department, said that alongside facial recognition, two other biometric authentication means -- fingerprint and iris -- will be mandatory for money transfers exceeding the minimum level, possibly starting from VND10 million (US$409), according to the Vietnam News Agency.

Vietnam currently has 140 million bank cards, consisting of 103 domestic and 37 million international cards, according to the SBV. 

There are a total of 150 million bank accounts, with over 77 percent of them belonging to adults. 

Notably, 108 million cards and 27 million accounts were opened using the 'Electronic Know Your Customer' (eKYC) method. 

There are 5.2 million mobile money accounts, with 3.6 million being registered and used in rural areas.

Currently, 90 percent of online transfer transactions are below VND10 million, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

The country is dealing with a high rate of online fraud, with 87,000 cases recorded so far, according to the Global Anti-Scam Alliance.

In 2021 alone, the victims suffered losses of $374 million, equivalent to $4,200 per case.

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