Vietnam’s central bank is moving to standardize identity verification across the financial system, ending the long-standing practice of using passports as a primary ID document for domestic banking transactions. From January 1, 2026, Vietnamese citizens will no longer be able to rely on passports to conduct activities such as payments, cash withdrawals or card services at domestic banks. Instead, they will need to present either a chip-based citizen ID card, a legacy ID card, or a Level 2 electronic ID (VNeID), according to reports.
The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) says the change is intended to improve data accuracy, enhance fraud and forgery prevention, and create a more consistent identity backbone across the banking sector. The move builds on a broader “data clean-up” in which banks have been required to validate customer records against biometric data captured through chip-based IDs and the national VNeID platform, with authorities reporting that over 120 million individual records have already been updated.
In parallel, new rules are tightening identity verification for digital channels. Commercial bank ACB, for example, has rolled out face authentication in its ACB ONE app pursuant to SBV Decision 2345/QĐ-NHNN and Circulars 17 and 18/2024/TT-NHNN. Those regulations, effective January 1, 2025, require banks to match customers’ identification documents with biometric information before allowing online transactions, with ACB explicitly stating that it compares a live face capture from the app to biometric data held in the Ministry of Public Security’s database.
Regulators are also extending biometric and ID requirements to e-wallets. Under SBV Circular 41/2025/TT-NHNN, which amends earlier rules on intermediary payment services, e-wallet owners using national ID documents or digital identities must either meet their provider in person for document and biometric checks, or undergo biometric verification through approved remote processes. Foreign users can be verified via authorized third parties, but they are still subject to biometric identity checks.
Taken together, the new passport restriction and the parallel biometric requirements signal a concerted effort to tie payment accounts, e-wallets and online banking more tightly to Vietnam’s national digital identity infrastructure. For banks and fintechs, that means a stronger, state-backed identity signal for KYC and fraud controls, but also a need to adapt onboarding and authentication flows to chip-based ID reading, VNeID Level 2 credentials and biometric verification.
For customers, especially those who have relied on passports or legacy credentials, the immediate priority will be updating records and enrolling in the new digital identity and biometric flows to avoid disruption when the 2025 and 2026 rules take full effect. Vietnam has been aggressively expanding VNeID adoption, aiming for 100% digital ID coverage by 2026, and has already mandated biometric authentication for corporate bank accounts and extended the VNeID system to foreign nationals.
Sources: VietnamPlus, VietNamNet Global, ACB, Vietnam Law Magazine
—
By the ID Tech Editorial Team
