VietinBank, Vietcombank, BIDV, and Agribank offer free transaction services

All costs for VietinBank online banking apps have been waived, according to an announcement from the bank.

This means that as of January 1, VietinBank will waive all transfers inside and outside the system through VietinBank iPay, as well as any minimum balance requirements, maintenance of payment accounts, and maintenance of the iPay service.

Likewise, customers may expect to pay no fees while using the BIDV SmartBanking app from January 1. This includes all money transfers both inside and outside the BIDV SmartBanking system, service maintenance charges, account administration fees, OTT message fees, and so forth.

Vietcombank also declared that from January 1, all banking transactions inside and outside the bank’s system, including money transfers through account numbers and via bank accounts, would be free of charge. In addition, Vietcombank waives all service management and maintenance charges.

By mid-May, all Agribank clients who use the bank's digital banking channel will be able to send and receive money online without having to pay any fees.

This means that as of 2022, the four major state-owned banks have ceased to collect online money transfer fees for their clients.

The addition to the four, the competition might make it more interesting. Other banks will likely follow suit but will be unable to retain their former policies in the face of such robust efforts by state-owned corporations.

Previously, other privately-run banks, such as Techcombank, TPBank, MB, VPBank, have applied zero-fee transaction services for their customers across the nation.

Free transactions are also part of the banking industry's digital reform agenda, which aims to promote cashless payments as a key option to entice users to create payment accounts, making digital banking more accessible and intuitive for customers.

As a result, more customers will alleviate the bank's pressure on a variety of operational costs, including cash reserves and those associated with running circulation, such as staff, transportation, logistics, and investment expenses, among others.