Vietnam's cashless payment push faces elderly adoption gap

Vietnam is rapidly moving toward a cashless economy. The State Bank of Vietnam reports that non‑cash transactions in early 2026 were up more than 34% year‑on‑year, with QR‑code payments rising nearly 40%, making the country one of Southeast Asia’s fastest‑growing digital‑payment markets. The national financial strategy for 2026‑2030 aims for cashless transaction value to reach 30 times GDP and for 95% of people aged 15 and over to hold a bank account.

Despite overall growth, older adults remain hesitant to adopt digital payment methods. Researchers at RMIT University Vietnam, Dr. Jasper Teow and Dr. Nguyễn Thị Vân Anh, surveyed 400 seniors in the United Kingdom and the United States and found that psychological factors—not technology skills—drive the divide. Two seniors with similar smartphone proficiency responded very differently to using e‑wallets or scanning QR codes: one saw it as a learning opportunity, the other feared making mistakes. This attitude gap poses a challenge for Vietnam’s digital‑payment transition.