SBV blames high traffic for bank biometric teething troubles

By Minh Son July 4, 2024 | 03:23 pm PT

Abnormally high traffic is to blame for the banking app errors that many customers have complained about on the first day the biometric authentication became mandatory, the central bank said.

All online transfers of VND10 million (US$393) or more and daily transactions of VND20 million need to be authenticated.

But people have struggled to make transfers on Monday, when biometric authentication requirement was implemented, with the apps repeatedly displaying error messages.

Some lenders have reported a 10-fold increase in traffic on their apps in recent days, Pham Tien Dung, deputy governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), said at a conference Thursday.

Pham Tien Dung, deputy governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), speaking at a conference on the morning of July 4, 2024. Photo courtesy of SBV

The central bank and banks have been closely monitoring the banking system, and the system was back to normal on Wednesday, he said.

As for reports of static images being used to bypass biometric tools, he said these occurred only at a few banks, which then temporarily disabled them to help transactions go through amid the traffic surge.

The issue has been addressed, he claimed.

A bank customer scanning their personal ID card to register for biometric authentication on a banking app. Photo by VnExpress/Khuong Nha

On average, around two million transactions worth VND10 million or more are handled each day, accounting for 8% of the total daily number.

According to data from the central bank, some 16.6 million users had registered for biometric authentication as of July 3.

Dung said the new requirement is to enhance security and address issues such as identity theft and use of fake documents to open accounts.