The card system integration was conducted by Vietnam’s two largest card alliances namely the Vietnam National Financial Switching Joint Stock Company (Banknetvn) and the Smartlink Card Services Joint Stock Co. (Smartlink).

The Banknetvn-Smartlink card payment system includes five member banks, namely the Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank), the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam (Agribank), the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), the Industrial and Commercial Bank of Vietnam (Incombank) and Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank). With the successful connection of the two ATM card alliances, clients of one member bank can use their cards at all ATMs of the four others.

By March 2008, the five above banks’ total number of ATMs reached 3,614, accounting for 64 percent of ATMs in the Vietnamese market. The total number of issued cards was 8.6 million, making up 80 percent of the local market’s payment cards.

As planned, Banknetvn and Smartlink will cooperate to connect with the remaining member banks by the third quarter of this year. At that time, the two card alliances will have more than 4,500 ATMs, accounting for about 80 percent of the domestic market. Around 9.2 million cards will be issued, making up 86 percent of card payment market share in Vietnam.