Hanoi - Vietnamese banks are struggling to keep electronic cash machines filled as the lunar new year approaches, with customers complaining the several were out of money over the weekend, local media reported Monday. The newspaper VNExpress quoted several frustrated customers who had to travel to several different locations over the weekend in order to find a cash machine that was not emptied out by the holiday rush.
Vietcombank, a majority state-owned bank, has put aside 56 billion dong (4 million dollars) in Ho Chi Minh City alone to try to keep the machines running over this week's holiday, the paper quoted a bank director as saying.
The lunar new year, known as Tet in Vietnam, falls on Thursday and businesses and banks stay closed for as long as a week. In the past, residents have rushed to local branches to withdraw large amounts of cash ahead of the holiday.
The advent of cash machines, which only started appearing in major cities since 2000,lent extra convenience to the holiday but now so many people use them that demand has outstripped the cash supply.
Vietnam's banking industry has seen rapid growth in recent years, with more than 6 million accounts added in the last three years.
Still, industry representatives estimate the total number of bank accounts still represents less than 10 per cent of the population of 85 million.
