Speaking at the conference, Dr. Nguyen Quoc Hung - Vice-Chairman cum Secretary General of VNBA said that in the context of globalization, the need to transfer money abroad is becoming more and more popular. Based on the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Ordinance, Decree No. 70/2014/ND-CP, Circular No. 20/2022/TT-NHNN, credit institutions (CIs) have developed internal regulations, including regulations on documents and certificates related to remittance transactions abroad for residents who are Vietnamese citizens. However, in reality, remittances abroad still have some contents that do not meet practical needs and are not consistent among CIs.
Therefore, VNBA has reported to the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and proposed to develop a Code of Conduct and Unified Practice for Remittance Abroad (Code). On November 10, 2023, the State Bank of Vietnam issued Official Dispatch No. 8743/NHNN-QLNH agreeing on the policy and assigning VNBA to coordinate with relevant units under the State Bank of Vietnam to develop and promulgate the Code. This is a very necessary Code for banks in the context of increasing foreign money transfer transactions and potential risks.
Dr. Nguyen Quoc Hung, Vice-Chairman cum Secretary General of VNBA
According to Dr. Nguyen Quoc Hung, based on the direction of the State Bank, the Vietnam Banks Association has established a Drafting Committee and a Working Group to develop the Code (including 27 members of a number of member banks with experience in foreign exchange activities such as BIDV, Vietcombank, VietinBank, Agribank, Techcombank, MB, VPBank and the Banking Working Group - BWG).
Transferring money abroad is a very complicated and sensitive activity and involves many legal regulations. This is the first time VNBA has developed and issued a unified Code for business operations, so there is no precedent to refer to, so it took a long time to research and develop.
The draft Code of Conduct went through 5 rounds of consultation (banks participating in the Drafting Committee, member banks, related ministries, relevant units of the SBV, the Council of VNBA, and the Banking Law Club). After more than 15 months of implementation, through many steps, on February 7, 2025, VNBA issued Decision No. 09/QD-HHNH promulgating the Code of Conduct (effective from March 15, 2025).
The promulgation of the Code of Conduct will help banks implement consistently with customers nationwide, thereby minimizing related risks. At the same time, it will help state management agencies and functional agencies to more effectively control money transfer activities abroad, limit illegal money transfers, contribute to stabilizing the foreign exchange market, stabilizing exchange rates to attract investors.
For the people, the Code of Conduct facilitates people when they need to make one-way money transfers abroad. Instead of having to go to a bank with appropriate regulations to make money transfers as before, now they only need to go to the nearest bank to make one-way money transfers abroad, and customers will have their money transfer needs met.
The Code of Conduct is designed to become a framework regulation for one-way money transfers abroad by residents who are Vietnamese citizens. This is not a legal document, but it will be the basis for banks to implement it as a market practice. The Code of Conduct promotes the responsibility of complying with legal regulations and preventing money laundering of commercial banks and bank officials in the process of providing international money transfer services to customers.
The focus of the Code of Conduct is to ensure that banks are consistent in their guidance and implementation of one-way money transfers abroad in compliance with legal regulations, in order to serve the essential needs of residents who are Vietnamese citizens; at the same time, improve the effectiveness of implementing anti-money laundering regulations. In addition, the Code of Conduct has strict regulations, contributing to limiting loopholes that individuals can exploit to carry out money laundering and illegal money transfers abroad by methods such as using one set of documents and money transfer documents multiple times at the same banking system or making multiple money transfers at different banks, etc.
Mr. Dao Xuan Tuan, Director of the Foreign Exchange Management Department, SBV
At the Conference, Mr. Dao Xuan Tuan, Director of the Foreign Exchange Management Department, SBV expressed his joy, excitement and congratulated VNBA for issuing the first Code of Conduct, which is extremely important in protecting the rights and interests of VNBA member organizations as well as receiving consensus and enthusiastic support from functional agencies, management agencies... Mr. Tuan also hopes that VNBA will continue to develop many other practices for the common benefit of banks.
Also at the Conference, Ms. Nguyen Cam Tam - Deputy Director of BIDV Payment Center, representing the Drafting Committee, presented the main contents of the Code of Conduct and some issues that credit institutions need to pay attention to. Accordingly, Ms. Tam emphasized 3 guiding principles in the Code of Conduct. These are (i) Closely following legal documents and/or having a clear legal basis, not adding or expanding contents that are not yet guided by law; (ii) Providing general guidance on common situations to meet the needs of legal and valid one-way remittance abroad of residents who are Vietnamese citizens; (iii) Promoting the responsibility of complying with legal regulations and preventing money laundering of banks in the process of providing international remittance services to customers.
Drafting Committee members discuss and answer banks' comments when implementing the Code of Conduct.
The Conference organized discussions and answered the opinions of banks on difficulties in one-way remittance abroad, through cases that have occurred in practice.
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