Vietnamese use plastic for cash, not shopping

Vietnamese spent VND550 trillion (US$27.5 billion) using credit and other cards last year, nearly 70 percent up from the previous year, according to the Vietnam Bank Association.

Debit cards accounted for 90 percent of this amount.

However, usage at merchants’ to make purchases accounted for a mere 0.5 percent.

Cash withdrawal accounted for 83 percent and bank transfers for 16 percent.

The total number of cards last year was 31.7 million, 50 percent higher than in 2009, with domestic and international cards respectively accounting for 93.6 and 6.4 percent.

The Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, or Agribank, leads with 6.4 million cards or 20.2 percent of the market share.

VietinBank and Vietcombank follow with 5.7 million and 5.3 million cards. There are more than 11,000 ATMs and 44,000 merchants in Vietnam.

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