Visa and Ho Chi Minh City sign MoU to deliver smart mobility

The MoU positions Visa as Ho Chi Minh City DoT’s preferred partner in developing digital payment solutions for the city

The MoU will support the city’s plans to become a smart city by 2017 – 2020, with a vision to 2025.

As part of this, Visa and the department (DoT) intend to collaborate to increase the acceptance of digital payments and implement a secure open-loop payment system across all transportation networks.

“Visa is committed to working with its clients, merchants, the government, and partners like the Ho Chi Minh City DoT to drive the adoption of digital payments in Vietnam,” said Dang Tuyet Dung, Visa's country manager in Vietnam and Laos.

“We are looking forward to bringing our expertise in digital payments and urban mobility to this partnership in the hope that we can accelerate Ho Chi Minh City’s smart mobility plans, providing people with secure, faster, and more convenient ways to pay for their transport and everyday purchases,” she added.

The MoU positions Visa as Ho Chi Minh City DoT’s preferred partner in developing digital payment solutions for the city and outlines a series of initiatives they will be focusing on.

These initiatives may include leveraging Visa’s feasibility study on the transit payment system in Ho Chi Minh City to help educate relevant stakeholders and guide the future direction and policy making of the transit and transit adjacent payments infrastructure and ecosystem.

Visa also intends to work with the DoT to explore opportunities to upgrade the legacy closed-loop payment system by adopting an open-loop EMV contactless technology for all transportation networks.

Finally, Visa intends to share best practices with the DoT through knowledge-sharing workshops and a study tour to meet with transport authorities to share experience on delivering smart mobility solutions.

Visa has a history of successfully supporting clients and public transport operators to deliver contactless payments acceptance in the mass transit industry with involvement in more than 100 projects with public transport operators or authorities across the globe.