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BC Card to expand footing in Vietnam

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By Lee Min-hyung
  • Published KST
  • Updated KST

BC Card CEO Choi Won-seok, left, poses with NAPAS Deputy CEO Nguyen Dang Hung, after signing a partnership at the former's headquarters in Seoul, Monday. Courtesy of BC Card

By Lee Min-hyung

BC Card has signed a business partnership with the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam (NAPAS) to jointly promote non-cash payments, the Korean card processing company said Monday.

The tie-up will enable BC Card to tap deeper into the lucrative emerging market. NAPAS offers a payment service for customers to make payments through their NAPAS-branded cards issued mostly by Vietnam's commercial banks.

Those who plan to visit the country can use BC Card's QR code-based payment system at most stores there. As the Vietnamese firm holds more than 2.2 million affiliated stores in the country, most Korean tourists have no problem paying with their BC Card-branded credit or debit cards there, the company said.

BC Card also forged ties with NAPAS-branded card issuers on the same day. A group of officials from 12 Vietnamese banks also visited headquarters of the Korean firm in Seoul, and tried out BC Card's up-to-date digital transaction technologies.

Both sides also agreed to carry out a set of promotional activities to expand their footing in each country further. NAPAS' membership includes a total of 48 banks and the number of their combined customers exceeds 100 million. BC Card and NAPAS have been in a partnership since 2017.

The Vietnamese card market is estimated to be worth 84 trillion won ($58 billion), according to BC Card. The company said the country's young population makes the market more attractive at a time when digital transactions are becoming more prevalent worldwide.

“More than 90 percent of the Vietnamese population use digital financial services there since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the country's median age is 30 years, so most Vietnamese people have a tendency to embrace new forms of payment methods without much difficulty,” BC Card CEO Choi Won-seok said.