The move follows a State Bank of Vietnam circular issued last month, which mandates that card issuers must conduct a face-to-face meeting and match the biometric data of individual customers or the legal representative of institutional customers with their identity documents.

Cards can only be used for electronic transactions after the successful verification and biometric authentication of the cardholder or the legal representative. This verification must use biometric data stored on the chip component of the Citizen ID Card.

For cases where the customer registers for services on an online banking application, the issuer must also verify that the registered phone number belongs to the cardholder or the legal representative. 

Regarding credit cards, the new regulation imposes a limit on the total monthly cash withdrawal amount per cardholder, which must not exceed 100 million VND (3,800 USD) across all credit cards issued under the same Bank Identification Number.

The SBV also eased residency requirements for foreign individuals. Foreigners are no longer required to have a residency period of 12 months or more to apply for a card. Instead, the card's usage period will be limited to the foreigner's remaining legal residency period in Vietnam.