Postal savings proposal to provide banking services rejected
The central bank has rejected a proposal by Postal Savings Service Co. to provide banking services, saying the current rules disallow companies in the sector to get involved in what only banks can do.
In a document just sent to the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Corporation, the parent firm of Postal Savings Service, the central bank says the corporation’s affiliate can only mobilize deposits.The company is banned from other banking services like lending, domestic and international payments, and credit card issuance and acceptance.
The central bank says the proposal has been turned down on legal and security grounds of the banking system.
Nguyen Thanh Hop, deputy head of the central bank’s credit institutions department, said a non-banking credit organization like Postal Savings Service could not function as a bank as per the existing rules.
Le Duc Thuy, governor of the central bank, told the Daily that the central bank had to take a tough stand on the issue and that “we cannot do what is prohibited by law.”
Nguyen Van Gam, director of Postal Savings Service, said he was disappointed by the decision and that it would adversely effect its salary payment service it launched recently on a trial basis.
Up to 37,600 customers are using the company’s salary payment service through individual accounts. The company plans to expand the service through its network of 3,000 post offices nationwide.
The company also plans to launch a series of other services like money transfer and SmartCard.
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