HÀ NỘI — After years offering a free account management, some banks have started charging fees from December 1, this year.

According to experts, the move is to offset operating costs and maintain technology and security systems, as well as clean up customer data and handle inactive accounts.

Under the new policy, banks, such as Eximbank, VIB, and Sacombank, have applied an account management fee of VNĐ2,000-10,000 based on minimum balances and account activity since early this month.

They also tighten SMS Banking charges to encourage customers to receive balance-change notifications via mobile apps – a free method that also helps reduce operational costs.

Along with fee changes, the banking sector is ramping up efforts to sync and standardise customer data.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) reported that as of November 14, more than 136.1 million personal records and 1.4 million organisational records had been biometrically verified using chip-based ID cards and the VNeID app.

A total of 57 credit institutions and 39 payment intermediaries offer ID-card verification on their mobile apps, while 63 credit institutions have installed ID-card readers at counters, and 21 credit institutions have integrated VNeID into their operations.

Data standardisation not only underpins the development of digital identity but also helps banks manage accounts more efficiently, enhance transaction security, and reduce fraud.

Initial results of more than 1.7 million warnings issued and over 567,000 user-initiated transaction cancellations from the System for Intelligent Monitoring and Oversight (SIMO) for customer risk management, monitoring, and prevention deployed by the SBV have demonstrated the positive impact of these efforts. — BIZHUB/VNS