[caption id="attachment_5585" align="alignnone" width="300"] Rural Vietnam Mountains[/caption]

Vietnam’s communications ministry hosted a workshop outlining international success stories in the mobile money sector, in a move to promote the benefits ahead of proposed trial deployments.

During the two day event, the country’s minister of information and communication Nguyen Manh Hung said adoption of a mobile-based payment system would help people in mountainous and other remote regions access a range of banking and online services.

The politician pointed to the abilities of mobile money to not only increase financial inclusion, but expand access to services in the health, education, employment services and social welfare.

The ministry’s event, in Hanoi, brought organisations from countries with experience in the sector to share experiences.

According to Vietnam government statistics, 60 per cent of the country’s 95 million citizens do not have access to a formal bank account, with the majority of those that have concentrated in urban areas.

Last month state media in the country revealed MobiFone, Viettel and Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group were preparing to launch pilots of mobile money services.

Source: mobileworldlive.com