Gemalto and the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam launch VCCS

The State Bank of Vietnam has released the first Vietnam Chip Card Specifications (VCCS). Announced in October, VCCS are a set of standards developed by National Payment Corporation of Vietnam (NAPAS), with support from Gemalto. With VCCS, which was devised specifically for EMV cards used in Vietnam, the new domestic ATM and Debit cards will reduce card-present fraud resulting from counterfeited, lost and stolen cards in the country.

By the end of 2017, 54.6% of all cards issued globally were EMV-enabled, and this number is expected to continue growing. Vietnam currently has 70 million magnetic stripe cards in circulation, and is in the process of migrating to EMV cards.

Nguyen Quang Minh, Deputy CEO for NAPAS, Vietnam, says, "Apart from the usual payment needs by the consumers, the new dual interface EMV cards will also be used for transport in the near future, potentially allowing us to leapfrog into other payment applications."

Michael Au, senior vice president Banking and Payment APAC for Gemalto, says, "We are honored to provide our expertise on EMV migration in following the country's mandate on the adoption of chip card technology. We are working with major issuers in the country to support the launch of EMV cards based on specifications set for domestic chip cards, which is planned for the end this year. Beyond contact and contactless cards, we expect innovations to foster as PURE white label payment technology is already supporting a variety of form factors, including biometric cards, wearables and mobile wallets."