How can MoMo become a “super wallet” in Vietnam?

MoMo has made a breakthrough to the 36th position in the top 100 global innovative fintech released on November 4th by Australian fintech venture capital investment firm H2 Ventures and Dutch accounting and auditing company KPMG, a global network of independent member firms offering audit, tax and advisory services.

For the second consecutive time enlisted in the 100 Fintech global ranking, it jumped 48 notches and was named in the ‘Leading 50’ of the top 100 list.

As 2018, this year's rankings was divided into two lists, including Top 50 leading companies and Top 50 emerging companies. MoMo has become the sole representative of Vietnam in the ‘Leading 50’.

Leading the ranking this year are China’s Ant Financial, the world’s largest third-party payments platform, JD Finance, a Chinese digital technology company and Singapore’s ride-hailing firm Grab, Go-Jek from Indonesia, Opendoor from the US, Paytm from India and OakNorth from the UK.

MoMo receives an award in Vietnam. Photo: Quy Hoa

The report describes MoMo as an electronic wallet providing a variety of services with essential needs such as money transfer, paying electricity bills, water bills, hospital fees, tuition fees, air tickets, movie tickets ...

This promotion is based on MoMo e-wallet’s efforts for development as well as its innovative activities, said the report.

“From the beginning, MoMo was determined to become a financial tool for all Vietnamese, helping people with low income, small traders to access financial services easily,” said Nguyen Ba Diep, vice president and co-founder of MoMo.

Before receiving this important award, MoMo had stirred up the retail market with the "Super Cashback" program. There were millions of consumers participating in this program at several convenience stores, supermarkets, gas stations ... Enthusiasm from customers proves that digital payment has become more popular in Vietnam.

MoMo’s development is accompanied by the country’s digital economy development as well as the formation of fintech companies. Since 2015, thanks to the development of companies offering intermediary payment services, the fintech market has begun to develop.

At the same time, the State Bank of Vietnam officially licensed intermediary payment services to enterprises. Each company chooses a specific form of operation, using an electronic wallet for its ecosystem such as: ZaloPay for social networks Zalo, ViettelPay for users of Viettel sim, VTC Pay, Soha Pay, ePay ...

MoMo has 100,000 payment points nationwide. Photo courtesy of MoMo

However, MoMo started the business with money transfer and payment services on mobile phones. After more than 12 years, MoMo has more than 13 million users, 12,000 payment partners, 100,000 payment points nationwide and direct links with 23 major banks in Vietnam and 43 domestic banks via NAPAS portal.

MoMo's ecosystem has been applying in various areas including electricity, telecommunications, mobile, television, personal finance, banking, aviation, entertainment, games, retail, catering services ... MoMo partners with Lotte Mart, Circle K, Ministop, Gongcha, Koi, The Coffee House, Al Fresco's, Hoang Yen, Vinasun, Vissan, Adayroi ...

According to the report, fierce competition of the market can be seen clearly in this year's ranking. There is a sharp decline of payment companies, from 34 in 2018 to 27 in 2019.

In the first 7 months of 2019, number of financial transactions via mobile channels reached nearly 202 million transactions. Number of transaction with value of over VND2.09 million increased over 100% year-on-year.

"Super wallet" in the digital economy

Vietnam's fintech market reached $4.4 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach $7.8 billion in 2020. According to unofficial estimates, there are about 200 fintech companies operating in different fields in Vietnam. Along with the Government’s goal of reducing cash use in the economy to less than 10%, the market is seen to grow bigger.

Fintech is considered an important factor for developing a digital ecosystem to support mobile banking, digital economy, and cashless economy in Vietnam. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam's digital economy will reach $12 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach $43 billion by 2025.

MoMo's promotion program at petroleum stations receives strong support from drivers. Photo courtesy of MoMo

Mobile payment is gradually becoming a new trend. Technologies including QR codes, contactless payments, contactless payments and digitizing card are popular. According to statistics from the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy under Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam is one of the countries with the highest growth in e-payment in the world, with a rate of about 35% per year.

With growing customer data, investors are also looking forward the "super-app" vision for MoMo when this e-wallet meets all of daily necessities through the payment features savings, gas stations, schools, hospitals ... For example, on November 1, MoMo became a social networking phenomenon in the "super-refund day".

After just one day, the app was ranked  number one in the App Store and No. 2 in Google Play in the chart for the most popular free apps. The sudden increase in downloads and use of MoMo e-wallet not only helps this e-wallet to mark on the application charts but also a new step of this e-wallet in changing payment habits of Vietnamese consumers.

MoMo has achieved successes and been operating well during the past 12 years. However, compared to the market of 100 million people, the penetration of MoMo and its peers is still modest.

The importance of MoMo is how to contribute more to the development of comprehensive financial services and push back non-cash payments in Vietnam, Diep said, adding its top priority is to create interesting experiences for customers, expand payment channels.