According to a reporter from Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper on the morning of July 1, many people said they had to go to the bank counter after being unable to update on the banking app.

At BIDV Ho Chi Minh City branch, bank staff said that since this morning, many people have come to update their biometric data. The main problem is that some older phone models cannot read CCCD chip information via NFC (wireless connection); the customer's information on the system at the time of account opening is different from the information on the current CCCD chip.

At the bank's transaction counter, the reporter noted that not only Vietnamese customers but also foreign customers were waiting to update their biometric data. BIDV staff in Ho Chi Minh City said that foreign customers must go to the counter to receive direct support.

Similarly, at a Sacombank transaction office on Nguyen Cong Tru Street (District 1), Ms. Ngoc Thanh (residing in Thu Duc City) is waiting for biometric updates for the Sacombank Pay app. According to Ms. Thanh, because the information registered to open a credit card is different from the information on the chip-embedded ID card, the banking system cannot process it.

"I have to go to the counter, but the update procedure takes a few minutes" - Ms. Thanh said.

Sacombank staff at this transaction office said that from morning to noon, they have supported more than a dozen customers to synchronize biometric data, in which the main error is that old phones cannot be updated. Only phones using Android operating system from 8.0 and above and iPhones using iOS operating system from 13.0 and above (equivalent to iPhone 6s) can update biometrics via the application.

Meanwhile, many customers of Vietcombank, VIB, VPBank… reported that they encountered problems when the system was overloaded and did not allow updates; when their faces were scanned, the system reported an error. Some customers of other banks also complained that the banking application was slow, affecting payment and experience.

Mr. Trinh Nguyen, a VPBank account holder, said he went to the counter to update his biometrics, but the system kept reporting errors. The system kept reporting errors that his face did not match the bank's saved database.

Some Eximbank customers complained that despite going to the counter to update their biometric data, their transfer of more than VND10 million this morning was still unsuccessful. The bank's staff explained that the system had not yet fixed the error, so they recommended that customers temporarily transfer money on the bank's website while waiting for Eximbank to "patch the error".

Not only at the counter, the 24/7 call centers of banks have also been operating at full capacity in recent days as customers have continuously requested support. The deputy general director of a joint stock bank said that in a few hours on the morning of July 1, the bank's call center received thousands of calls from customers asking for support in updating biometric data.

"The bank has had to increase its staff and invest in the system to provide maximum support to customers. There may be problems at first, but biometric authentication for money transfers over VND10 million and total transaction value over VND20 million/day is necessary to minimize the situation of accounts not in the bank's name, fraud and scams," said the bank's deputy general director.