Hanoi (VNA) - Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Le Minh HungHung has asked relevant agencies to help implement non-cash payments for publicservices, including tax, electricity, water, hospital and education fees.

Under the instruction, Hung instructed the SBV’s branches in cities andprovinces nationwide to propose effective measures for the People’s committeesto further promote non-cash payments for public services as mentioned in theGovernment’s Decision No 241/QD-TTg.

Among the measures, the committees will direct public service providers intheir cities and provinces to build information technology systems to enable itto connect with banks and payment intermediary service providers so the paymentof public services will be made via bank accounts.

In addition, schools, hospitals and public service providers will installequipment and machines to accept bank cards and QR codes to ease the use of mobiledevices and bank cards for payment, which is the same as the payment for goodspurchased at stores and supermarkets.

According to Decision 241, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc late last yearapproved a scheme to intensify payments for public services via banks,including tax, electricity, water, hospital and education fees.

Specifically, by 2020, 80 percent of tax payment transactions in central-leveland provincial-level cities are hoped to be implemented via banks, while allState treasuries will have cashless payment devices.

The scheme also targets non-cash payments being accepted by 70 percent of powercompanies, 70 percent of water companies, 100 percent of universities andcolleges and 50 percent of hospitals in major cities.

The country will focus on developing new and modern payment methods, especiallythose suitable for rural areas, and for people who don’t have bank accounts.

Besides, it will also develop new multi-functional and multi-purpose bank cardsthat allow different forms of payments such as internet banking, non-touch andnear-field communication payments.

More efforts will be made to ensure security and safety during transactions togain consumer confidence, while authenticity measures will be intensified toavoid fraud, according to the decision. - VNA