If you run an online business serving Vietnamese customers, accepting payments can seem complex at first. Vietnam has a unique banking ecosystem with over 50 local banks, limited credit card adoption, and a strong preference for bank transfers and QR code payments. This guide explains exactly how to accept payments from Vietnamese customers — efficiently, securely, and with real-time settlement.
Vietnamese consumers overwhelmingly prefer bank transfers over credit cards. According to Vietnam's State Bank, over 80% of domestic online transactions are completed via interbank transfer or QR code — not credit cards. This means international payment solutions like Stripe or PayPal are largely irrelevant for serving Vietnamese customers.
The two dominant payment methods in Vietnam are:
Both methods settle through NAPAS (National Payment Corporation of Vietnam), the interbank network that connects all 57+ licensed Vietnamese banks.
Many merchants start by accepting payments manually — providing their bank account number and asking customers to include an order reference in the transfer description. This works but creates serious operational problems:
A payment gateway like RMPay solves this by automating the entire process — generating unique reference codes per order, monitoring bank accounts in real time, and triggering instant webhook notifications when payments arrive.
For most merchants, supporting both QR code and manual bank transfer maximizes conversion. Some customers prefer scanning QR codes (faster, fewer errors), while others prefer typing in transfer details manually.
Your customers will have accounts at various Vietnamese banks. To maximize coverage, you need to accept transfers from all major banks. RMPay supports 57 Vietnamese banks including the most popular ones:
| Bank | Code | Market Share |
|---|---|---|
| Vietcombank | VCB | Largest state bank |
| Techcombank | TCB | Top commercial bank |
| MB Bank | MB | High digital adoption |
| BIDV | BIDV | Major state bank |
| VPBank | VPB | Fast-growing commercial |
| ACB | ACB | Popular commercial bank |
The most efficient way to accept Vietnamese payments at scale is through a payment gateway API. With RMPay's REST API, the integration flow is:
The entire process — from customer scanning QR to your server receiving confirmation — typically completes in under 10 seconds.
Unlike credit card processors that hold funds for days, bank transfer payments in Vietnam settle in real time. With RMPay, funds are credited to your merchant account within 5 seconds of payment confirmation — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Every payment must include a unique reference code (nội dung chuyển khoản) so your system can match the transfer to the correct order. Make this requirement extremely clear on your payment page. RMPay handles this automatically by generating a unique code per order and monitoring for matching transfers.
Vietnamese interbank transfers carry small fees. As a merchant using a payment gateway, you pay a processing fee (typically 1% per transaction) rather than per-transfer bank fees. RMPay's fees start from 1% with no setup costs.
Common fraud patterns in Vietnamese payments include duplicate orders (the same payment sent twice), incorrect reference codes (payment cannot be matched), and card/account fraud. A proper payment gateway includes automatic duplicate detection and risk scoring on every transaction.
Accepting payments from Vietnamese customers requires supporting bank transfers and QR codes through Vietnam's NAPAS network. The most efficient approach for online merchants is integrating a Vietnam-specific payment gateway that handles bank monitoring, reference code matching, and real-time settlement automatically.
RMPay supports 57 Vietnamese banks with real-time settlement and a simple API integration. New merchants onboarded within 24 hours.
Contact Our Team →Related articles:
→ VietQR Payment Integration Guide
→ Vietnam Bank Transfer Setup Guide
→ View all 57 supported Vietnamese banks