Banks have said they will try to keep a smooth ATM service during theupcoming lunar New Year (Tet) when the demand for cash sharplyincreases, the Dtinews reported on January 8.
Labourers inindustrial zones often line up in front of the ATM machines, hoping thatthey will not run out of cash or have technical problems. The demandfor cash always skyrockets on the approach of the longest and mostimportant annual festival in Vietnam, which will falls by the end ofJanuary this year.
Huong, an employee at Hanoi's Bac Thang LongIndustrial Park, said last year, her company paid wages later thanusual because of slow business. "I stood in line for two hours, but whenit was my turn, the money had run out. I tried another machine, but itwas also out of cash. The third machine gave me a torn note," she said.
Many ATM machines in Ho Chi Minh City are already overloaded.An employee of a company named Tan Tien said he waited for over 30minutes at a VietcomBank machine, but the lines were so long that hedecided to go home.
Dao Minh Tuan, deputy head ofVietcomBank, said they are planning to refill the machines three times aday this year, while the machines at industrial zones will be refilledsix to seven times a day. However, he said, due to the holiday traffic,these refills may be delayed at times.
Deputy governor of theState Bank of Vietnam Dao Minh Tu said: "We have asked the industrialzones to pay wages on different days so the ATM machines won't beoverloaded. We also asked them to try to pay in cash."
Meanwhile, smaller banks such as Tienphong Bank and OceanBank areconfident they can meet customer demand. Tienphong Bank will not evencollect service fees for customers using other banks' machines. Arepresentative from the Vietnam Bank Card Association said the busiesttime of the day for withdrawals, between January 26 and 28 (December26-28 on the lunar calendar), is from 5pm-7pm.-VNA
Labourers inindustrial zones often line up in front of the ATM machines, hoping thatthey will not run out of cash or have technical problems. The demandfor cash always skyrockets on the approach of the longest and mostimportant annual festival in Vietnam, which will falls by the end ofJanuary this year.
Huong, an employee at Hanoi's Bac Thang LongIndustrial Park, said last year, her company paid wages later thanusual because of slow business. "I stood in line for two hours, but whenit was my turn, the money had run out. I tried another machine, but itwas also out of cash. The third machine gave me a torn note," she said.
Many ATM machines in Ho Chi Minh City are already overloaded.An employee of a company named Tan Tien said he waited for over 30minutes at a VietcomBank machine, but the lines were so long that hedecided to go home.
Dao Minh Tuan, deputy head ofVietcomBank, said they are planning to refill the machines three times aday this year, while the machines at industrial zones will be refilledsix to seven times a day. However, he said, due to the holiday traffic,these refills may be delayed at times.
Deputy governor of theState Bank of Vietnam Dao Minh Tu said: "We have asked the industrialzones to pay wages on different days so the ATM machines won't beoverloaded. We also asked them to try to pay in cash."
Meanwhile, smaller banks such as Tienphong Bank and OceanBank areconfident they can meet customer demand. Tienphong Bank will not evencollect service fees for customers using other banks' machines. Arepresentative from the Vietnam Bank Card Association said the busiesttime of the day for withdrawals, between January 26 and 28 (December26-28 on the lunar calendar), is from 5pm-7pm.-VNA
