Vietnam works to integrate welfare benefits info into citizens’ personal identification accounts
Tuesday, May 31, 2022, 13:27 GMT+7
The Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security has worked with related ministries, agencies, and banks to synchronize the national data on welfare benefits with the population data and build technical solutions to enable citizens to receive state support through their personal identification accounts.
The scheme was announced at a seminar on implementing electronic payments in social assistance policies on Monday.
Its aim is to ensure that the state pay for welfare benefits, such as unemployment and poor household financial support, “comes to the right person at the right time,” according to Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thanh Vinh, of the Ministry of Public Security’s police department for administrative management of social order.
Like many other documents, such as a driver’s license, social insurance card, and COVID-19 vaccination certificate, Vietnamese citizens’ welfare benefit information will be incorporated into new chip-based ID cards, which the country has been issuing to eligible people under a nationwide campaign to replace old forms of individuals' identity document.
The public security ministry is considering activating citizens’ welfare benefit accounts during the process of the chip-mounted ID card issuance, instead of the current procedure, in which banks issue the accounts to citizens based on data from the ministry’s electronic personal identification and authentication system.
Citizens will also be able to choose the bank account via which they want to receive social assistance pay.
Speaking at Monday’s event, Nguyen Thi Thu, from the State Bank of Vietnam’s payment department, expressed her concern that the move would face many challenges, including a large number of social policy beneficiaries staying in disadvantaged areas with little access to electronic payment methods.
Other experts suggested solutions such as encouraging people to shop on e-commerce platforms and promoting electronic transactions in rural and remote areas.
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