Vietnam's payment ecosystem: a big roundup of local players

introductory

Vietnam, one of the fastest growing digital economies in Southeast Asia, has seen its payments market boom in recent years. With rising smartphone penetration, increasing internet penetration, and the government's policy of promoting a cashless society, Vietnam's payments ecosystem has seen the emergence of a number of local companies and international competitors. In this article, we will provide an in-depth analysis of the major local payment platforms in Vietnam, exploring their business models, market shares and future trends.

1. Vietnam Payment Market Overview

1.1 Market size and growth potential

Vietnam's digital payment transactions are expected to exceed $16 billion in 2023 and are on track to top $25 billion in 2025, according to Statista data. The growth has been fuelled by the popularity of mobile wallets and QR code payments, with younger consumers in particular preferring e-wallets to traditional banking services.

1.2 Policy environment

The Government of Viet Nam was actively promoting a "cashless society" programme, and the Proposal for the Development of Non-Cash Payments encouraged businesses to adopt digital solutions. In addition, the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) had strengthened its regulatory framework to promote fintech development and ensure the security of user data.

2. Major local e-wallets and payment platforms

2.1 MoMo - the leading super-application e-wallet

• Established:: 2014
• parent companies: M_Service
• user scale:: >30 million (as of 2023)
• core functionality: P2P transfers, bill payments, online shopping, loan services, etc.
  MoMo covers rural areas through an extensive network of offline agents and has partnered with international brands such as Grab to expand its scene ecosystem. It currently holds a market share of about 50% (as reported by Fitch Solutions). The key to its success lies in its early layout and diversified value-added service strategy.

Table: MoMo Key Business Indicators

Competitive challenges: GrabPay and ZaloPay are accelerating their capture of high-frequency micro-transaction scenarios.

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2.2 ZaloPay - Social Ecology Driven Payment Tools

• Established:: 2017
• parent companies: VNG Corporation (Vietnamese Internet giant)
• user scale:: >20 million (as of 2023)
• Core strengths: Deep integration into Zalo social platform (Vietnam's version of WeChat, with more than 75 million monthly activity), providing features such as red packets and community transfers.

ZaloPay has penetrated the market quickly with Zalo's large user base, and is especially popular with the younger demographic. Its "social+payment" model is similar to that of WeChat Pay, but it faces the challenge of MoMo's coverage of merchants. It has been competing for market share through subsidies (e.g., fee-free transfers).

Table: ZaloPay Key Business Indicators

Latest News:: Launch of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) service in 2023, in exclusive partnership with local e-commerce company Tiki.

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