A report from Vietnam has attracted attention in recent weeks: around 86 million bank accounts are set to be closed because their owners have not completed biometric verification. Source: Vietnam News
At the same time, Reuters reported on an ongoing investigation in Vietnam: cyberattacks involving creditor data appear to have exposed significant vulnerabilities in the country’s financial data infrastructure. Source: Reuters
Taken together, these two developments may point to a trend that reaches far beyond Vietnam. They raise a critical question: are cyberattacks being used as a justification to accelerate and tighten mandatory biometric verification?

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What Does Biometric Verification Mean?

Biometric verification means that an account can only be used if the account holder confirms their identity through facial recognition, a fingerprint, or a chip-based ID document. While biometric data in Europe is usually linked to passports or national ID documents under strict data protection rules, Vietnam now requires active matching between bank accounts and the national chip ID system.If account holders are unable to complete the process — whether for technical reasons, because they live abroad, or because their documents have expired — they may lose access to their accounts. In the worst case, access to the account, and potentially to the funds associated with it, may be lost.

The Authorities’ Argument

Officially, this drastic measure is presented as a security upgrade. Biometric verification is intended to help curb fraud, money laundering, and fake accounts. Vietnam has more than 200 million bank accounts. After the verification process, around 113 million active personal accounts are expected to remain. The remaining 86 million accounts are considered inactive or unverified and are set to be closed. Source: Vietnam News

At the same time, Reuters reported that the government in Hanoi was investigating a cyberattack involving creditor data. The attack affected lenders and sensitive financial information. Such incidents can become powerful political arguments for enforcing strict measures such as mandatory biometric verification: “We need to protect you – and without biometrics, that is no longer possible.” Source: Reuters

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Pros and Cons of Mandatory Biometric Verification

Pros:

• Fewer anonymous accounts make money laundering more difficult.
• Stronger security against identity theft.
• Better traceability of financial transactions.

Cons:

• Millions of people may lose access to their accounts if they are unable to complete the verification process.
• Vietnamese citizens living abroad may be particularly affected if they have no practical way to complete biometric verification on site.
• Small or inactive accounts may be closed even if they still contain funds.
• The state gains far-reaching visibility into financial flows, while privacy and financial autonomy may suffer.

The last point in particular is crucial: biometric verification may promise security, but at the same time opens the door to comprehensive monitoring.

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Could Europe Be Next?

For now, Europe is still protected by the GDPR. Biometric data is considered particularly sensitive, and a legal obligation to link every bank account to a fingerprint or facial scan would be difficult to enforce. But the development in Vietnam shows how security arguments can shift. However, banks in Europe are already demanding more extensive identity checks, including video identification, two-factor authentication, and links to official ID numbers.

If cyber attacks like that in Vietnam are highlighted as a threat, this could also be used in Europe to gradually introduce more biometrics. The pattern would be familiar: first, create a security imperative through the threat of cyberattacks; then, present biometric verification as the necessary solution.

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Why Vietnam could be a test field

Vietnam is an attractive test case: it has a young population, high smartphone penetration, and comparatively weak data protection standards. If millions of accounts can be closed there without major resistance, other governments may see that such measures are politically feasible. At a later stage, similar systems could be introduced in Western countries – only packaged more carefully, for example as a “voluntary security measure” that gradually becomes mandatory.

Conclusion

The combination of large-scale biometric verification and references to a cyberattack involving creditor data does not appear accidental.

Vietnam demonstrates how quickly governments can invoke security arguments to introduce far-reaching mechanisms of control. The GDPR may still provide a layer of protection for Europe. But the development shows clearly that when security is framed against freedom, biometrics can quickly become the new standard.

The crucial question is therefore: Does biometrics really protect – or is it primarily an instrument for monitoring?

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Credits:
‘SHB Nguyen van Cu, Da Lat’, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SHB_Nguyen_Van_Cu,_Da_Lat.jpg, from Diane Selwyn, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en. Editing: Partial cutout.