A decision by the prime minister in early 2021 ushered in a pilot phase for mobile money services, allowing telecommunications companies to enter the payment intermediary sector without having to immediately comply with the full set of stringent regulations under the Law on Credit Institutions. The pilot phase, which has been extended through the end of 2025, has largely fulfilled its purpose of testing technical feasibility and gauging market acceptance of the telecom-account-based payment model. Mobile money is now entering a new stage, with a revised legal framework being proposed by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV). Numbers that speak for themselves The pilot phase has generated an important body of empirical data, giving policymakers a concrete basis on which to assess both the effectiveness and risks of the mobile money model. As of the end of the first quarter of 2025, Vietnam had recorded more than 10.38 million registered and active mobile money accounts, according to SBV data. This is a notable figure given that the service has only been in practical operation for around three to four years. Even more striking is the demographic structure of users: over 71%—equivalent to roughly 7.4 million accounts—are located in rural, mountainous, […]