Circular No. 107/2011/TT-BTC dated July 20, 2011 of the Ministry of Finance amending Point c, Clause 2, Article 1 of the Finance Ministry’s Circular No. 40/2011/TT-BTC of March 22, 2011, amending and supplementing a number of provisions of the Finance Ministry’s Circular No. 108/2007/TT-BTC of September 7, 2007, guiding the financial management mechanism applicable to official development assistance (ODA) programs and projects

THE AGENCY PRESIDING OVER ODA NEGOTIATION HAS RIGHT TO CHOOSE SERVING BANK

On July 20, 2011, the Ministry of Finance issued the Circular No. 107/2011/TT-BTC amending sub-clause (c), clause 2, Article 1 of the Circular No. 40/2011/TT-BTC dated March 22, 2011 of the Ministry of Finance amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Ministry of Finance’s Circular No. 108/2007/TT-BTC of September 7, 2007, guiding the financial management mechanism applicable to official development assistance (ODA) programs and projects.

Accordingly, the rights on approving and choosing banks for serving in ODA projects are transferred to the agency presiding over the specific international treatment on ODA , instead of belonging to the Ministry of Finance as before.

In particular, on the basis of the list of banks qualified for acting as service banks announced by the State Bank of Vietnam and the Ministry of Finance and the written requests of commercial banks, the agency presiding over the specific international treatment on ODA will consider the approval and choice of banks for ODA projects, and inform the negotiation partners for knowing and implementing.

In case more than one qualified commercial bank request to serve a single ODA project, priority shall be given to the following: banks experienced in serving ODA projects; state-owned commercial banks; and joint-stock commercial banks in which the State holds dominant shares.

It is known that serving bank is a commercial bank which is chosen in the list of commercial banks with full conditions to implement the foreign transactions, payments and supply banking services for ODA projects.

To be defined as a serving bank, that bank has to satisfy following conditions: having financial security percentage applied to all credit institutions in accordance with regulations of the State Bank of Vietnam; having operation area suitable with operation area of ODA projects and committing to comply with regulations of the Government, the Ministry of Finance and regulations of the sponsors on ODA capital management.