Circular No. 16/2020/TT-NHNN amending the Circular No. 23/2014/TT-NHNN

CIRCULAR

On amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Circular No. 23/2014/TT-NHNN dated August 19, 2014 of the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam guiding the opening and use of payment accounts at payment service suppliers

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Pursuant to the Law on State Bank of Vietnam dated June 16, 2010;

Pursuant to the Law on the Credit institutions dated June 16, 2010 and the Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on the Credit institutions dated November 20, 2017;

Pursuant to the Law on Anti-Money Laundering dated June 18, 2012;

Pursuant to the Decree No. 101/2012/ND-CP dated November 22, 2012 of the Government on non-cash paymentand the Decree No.80/2016/ND-CP dated July 01, 2016 of the Government on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government s Decree No. 101/2012/ND-CP;

Pursuant to the Decree No. 116/2013/ND-CP dated October 04, 2013, detailing a number of articles of the Anti-Money Laundering Law and the Decree No. 87/2019/ ND-CP dated November 14, 2019 of the Government on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 116/2013/ND-CP of October 04, 2013, detailing a number of articles of the Anti-Money Laundering Law;

Pursuant to the Decree No. 16/2017/ND-CP dated February 17, 2017 of the Government defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the State Bank of Vietnam

At the request of the Director of the Payment Department;

The Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam promulgates the Circular on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Circular No. 23/2014/TT-NHNN dated August 19, 2014 of the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam guiding the opening and use of payment accounts at payment service suppliers.

Article 1. To amend and supplement a number of articles of the Circular No. 23/2014/TT-NHNNdated August 19, 2014 of the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam guiding the opening and use of payment accounts at payment service suppliers.

1. To amend and supplement Clause 5, Article 3 as follows:

“5. Balance on the payment account shall be entitled to the interest rate of the demand deposits applicable to the payment account. The interest rate that is fixed and posted publicly by the payment service suppliers shall be compliance with the legal regulations.”

2. To amend and supplement the Article 12 as follows:

“Article 12. Dossier for opening payment account

1. For personal payment account, banks and foreign bank’s branches have rights to define and give instructions on documents in the dossier for opening payment accounts for the customers, but must include at least documents as follows:

a) The application for opening payment account in accordance with the forms of banks, branches of foreign banks at the place of opening payment account, and must be compliance with the regulations prescribed in Clause 1, Article 13 of this Circular;

b) Identity papers include valid citizen identification card, ID card or passport, Certificate of birth (for Vietnamese citizen under 14 years old and not yet has the passport); valid entry visa or other papers with visa exemption (for individual who is a foreigners); except for the case that individual is the foreigner who opens payment account in compliance with Clause 4, Article 14 of this Circular;

c) Individual who opens payment account by her/his legal representative (hereafter referred to as the individual’s legal representative), apart from the ones prescribed at Points a, b, Clause 1 of this Article, the dossier for opening payment accounts must have documents as follows:

- The legal representative is an individual: legal representative’s identity papers of individual and other his/her papers proving the legal representative status with the individual who opens the payment account;

- The legal representative is a legal entity: decision of establishment; certificate of operation, certificate of enterprise registration or other papers in accordance with legal regulations; papers proving that entity’s legal status with the individual opening the payment account; identity papers and other papers proving the legal representative of that entity.

2. For organization’s payment accounts, banks and foreign bank’s branches have rights to define and give instructions on documents in the dossier for opening payment accounts for the customers, but must include at least documents as follows:

a) The application for opening payment account in accordance with the forms of banks and foreign bank’s branches where accounts are opened and in conformity with the regulations prescribed in Clause 2, Article 13 of this Circular.

b) Papers proving the legal establishment and operation of the organization opening payment accounts: decision of establishment, certificate of operation, certificate of enterprise registration or other documents prescribed by laws;

c) Papers proving the legal representative status with their own identity papers;

d) Appointment decision for chief accountant or the person in charge of accounting or the contract of account service of the account holders (if any) attached with identity papers of the chief accountant or the accountant in charge.

3. For the shared payment account, banks and foreign bank’s branches have rights to define and give instructions on documents in the dossier for opening payment accounts for the customers, but must include at least documents as follows:

a) An application for opening payment account in accordance with the forms of banks or foreign bank’s branches where open the account and in conformity with the legal provision prescribed in Clause 3, Article 13 of this Circular;

b) Documents of the owners of the shared payment account:

- The case that account holder is an individual, the dossier for opening payment account includes the papers prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article;

- The case that account holder is an organization, the dossier for opening payment account includes the papers prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article.

c) When the agreement or contract (hereinafter referred to as the agreement) on open and use of the payment account has no contents on the management and use of shared payment accounts of the entities listed in the shared payment account, it is compulsory to have the private agreement on managing and using that shared payment account.

4. Documents in the dossier for opening payment accounts prescribed in Clause 1 and Clause 2 of this Article may be the originals, electronic copies or certified copies or copies issued from the originals or copies attached with the originals for comparison in accordance with legal regulations. Banks and foreign bank’s branches must confirm the copies and shall be responsible for the copy’s accuracy compared with the originals in the case of showing the originals for comparison. The consular legalization for documents issued by the foreign authorized agencies shall be implemented in accordance with legal regulations. In the case that document in the application for opening the payment account is the electronic copies, banks and branches of foreign bank must have solutions and technology to collect, investigate, compare and ensure that the electronic copies have fully, exact and matched contents with the originals in accordance with the legal provisions.

5. Banks, branches of foreign banks allowed to negotiate with the customers whether to translate or not into Vietnamese for the documents in foreign languages must follow the principles as follows:

a) Banks, branches of foreign banks must investigate, control and ensure the accuracy and efficiency on Vietnamese contents compared with the documents in foreign languages;

b) Documents in foreign languages must be translated at request of the authorized state agencies; the translations must have the confirmation of the authorized person of banks or branches of foreign banks or be notarized or certified.”

3. To amend and supplement Article 13 as follows:

“Article 13. Application for opening a payment account

1. The application form for opening a personal payment account shall be prescribed by banks, branches of foreign banks but must contain at least details as follows:

a) For an individual who is Vietnamese: full name, date of birth, nationality, occupation, job title, phone number; numbers, date of issue, place of issue of valid citizen identity card, ID card or passport, address of permanent residence address and current address; being a resident or non-resident; tax code (if any);

b) For an individual who is a foreigner: full name, date of birth, nationality, occupation, job title, phone number, number, date of issue and place of issue of valid passport; entry visa (if any); registered residence address in foreign country, registered residence address in Vietnam; being a resident or non-resident; tax code (if any);

c) In the case that any individual opens payment account via legal representative, the application for opening a payment account must have information about the legal representative of the account holder beside the account holder’s information prescribed at Points a, b of this Clause, in particular:

- If account holder’s legal representative is an individual, information of the legal representative shall comply with Points a, b of this Clause;

- If account holder’s legal representative is an organization, the information includes: fully name and abbreviated name, address of headquarter; transaction address; phone number, fax number (if any), business operation, main business operations and the legal representative of that organization.

2. The application form for opening a payment account shall be prescribed by banks, branches of foreign banks but must contain at least details as follows:

a) Full name and abbreviated name: headquarter address; transaction address; business operation and areas; tax code (if any);

b) Information of the legal representative of the organization opening the payment account in accordance with the provisions in Points a, b, Clause 1 of this Article;

c) Information of the chief accountant or the person in charge of accounting (if any) of the organization opening the payment account in accordance with the provisions in Points a, b, Clause 1 of this Article;

3. The application form for opening a shared payment account shall be prescribed by banks, branches of foreign banks but must contain at least details as follows:

a) If the account holder for opening the shared payment account is a person, the information prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article is required;

b) If the account holder for opening the shared payment account is an organization, the information prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article is required.”

4. To supplement Article 13a as follows:

“Article 13a. Agreement on opening and using the payment account

1. The agreement on opening and using the payment account between banks, branches of foreign banks and customers shall contain at least details as follows:

a) Number (if any), time (date) of agreement;

b) Name of banks and branches of foreign banks;

c) Name of account holder, full name of the account holder’s legal representative (if the account holder is an organization), full name of the account holder’s legal representative (if the account holder is an individual prescribed at Points c, d, Clause 1, Article 11 of this Circular);

d) Rights and obligations of parties;

dd) Regulations on fees (type of fees, fee level (if any), any changes on fee);

e) Information supply and notice form to the account holder on: account balance and other transactions arising in the payment account, closing and blockade of an account, other necessary information in the process of using the payment account;

g) Temporary closing of an account, suspending closing and blockade of an account, termination of the blockade of a payment account, within that the temporary closing and blockade of a payment account when having any misleading or extraordinary sign between customer’s information and biometric factors in the process of opening and using the payment account by electronic method as prescribed at Point c, Clause 2, Article 14a of this Circular;

h) Scope of using, transaction limit via current account and the cases of suspension or refusal of the payment order from the account holders;

i) The use of payment account to pay regular or periodic payments at the request of the account holder or the collection of due, overdue debts, interest and other incurred costs in the process of account management and providing payment services by branches of foreign banks;

k) Measures to ensure safety and security in the use of payment accounts;

l) Method of receiving the request for investigation and complaint; time of settling the request of investigation and complaint and the settlement of investigation and complaint shall be in accordance with the regulations prescribed in Article 15a of this Circular;

m) Cases of closing the payment account and handling the balance when closing the payment account;

n) If the account holders of the shared payment account have not yet had documents prescribed at Point c, Clause 3 of Article 12, the management and use of shared payment account of the shared account holders must be included in the agreement on opening and using the payment account.

2. In case of using the contract form, general transaction conditions in the agreement on opening and using the payment account, banks and branches of foreign banks must:

a) Publicly post contract form, general transaction conditions on opening and using payment account at the legal transaction places in the network of banks and branches of banks and post on the website, and application software for online transaction via Internet, mobile phone (if any) of banks and branches of foreign banks;

b) Fully supply information on contract form, general transaction conditions for the customers before opening the payment account for the customers and have customer’s confirmation on fully receiving information from banks and branches of foreign banks.”

5. To amend and supplement Article 14 as follows:

“Article 14. Procedures for opening a payment account

1. Upon having demand for opening a payment account, the applicant shall prepare 01 (one) dossier as prescribed in Article 12 of this Circular and sent it directly or by post or by electronic means to banks and branches of foreign banks where the payment account is opened.

2. Upon receiving customer’s dossier for opening the payment account, banks and branches of foreign banks shall check and compare all the documents in the dossier and takes the procedure:

a) If all the dossier’s documents for opening payment account are sufficient, lawful and conform to regulations and match with the documents in the dossier for opening the payment account, banks and branches of banks shall open the payment account for the customer in accordance with the Clause 3 of this Article;

b) If all the dossier’s documents for opening payment account are insufficient, unlawful or not conform to regulations or does not match with the documents in the dossier for opening the payment account, banks and braches of foreign banks shall inform the customers to complete the dossier;

c) Banks and branches of foreign banks must notice the customers in the case of refusing to open the payment account.

3. After checking, comparing and confirming customer’s identity information in accordance with the legal regulations on anti-money laundering, banks and branches of foreign banks shall make a contract of opening and using the payment account with customer as follows:

a) For a personal payment account: banks and branches of foreign banks shall have direct meeting with the account holder or his/her legal representative (for the case that opening payment account via the legal representative) to make the contract on opening and using the payment account, except for the cases prescribed in Clauses 4, 6 of this Article and Article 14a of this Circular;

b) For the payment account of organization: banks, branches of foreign banks shall meet directly or indirectly account holder’s legal representative when making contract to open and use the payment account. In case of indirectly meeting with the account holder’s legal representative, banks and branches of foreign banks must take appropriate measures to verify the accuracy of signature, seal (if any), digital certificate (if any) of the account holder’s legal representative in the contract on opening and using the payment account and ensure the match with the signature, seal (if any), digital certificate (if any) of the account holder’s legal representative in the process of using the payment account;

c) For the shared payment account:

- In the case that the account holder of the shared payment account is an individual, banks and branches of foreign banks shall make the contract to open and use the shared payment account in accordance with Point a of this Clause;

- In the case that the account holder of the shared payment account is an organization, banks and branches of foreign banks shall make the contract to open and use the shared payment account in accordance with Point b of this Clause;

4. In the case that the account holder is the individual in foreign countries, banks and branches of foreign banks are allowed to open the payment account without directly meeting the account holder, however, banks and branches of foreign banks must verify account holder’s identification information via agency banks or intermediaries, ensure the accurate confirmation on account holder and take the overall responsibilities for the verification of the account holder at their banks. The selection of intermediaries must comply with law provisions on anti-money laundering.

5. The procedure for opening the personal payment account by the electronic methods must comply with Article 14a of this Circular.

6. Banks and branches of foreign banks shall decide the open of payment account for the customer that banks and branches of foreign banks have established the relationship and made the information verification, but must ensure to have or collect sufficient information and documents in the dossier for opening payment account prescribed in Article 12 of this Circular.

7. After making the contract on opening and using the payment account with the account holders, banks and branches of foreign banks shall inform the number, name of the payment account, time of using the payment account to the account holder. Banks and branches of foreign banks must ensure to collect the sample of signatures, digital certificates (if any) of the account holder or the account holder’s legal representative and other relevant people (if any), sample of seal (if any, for the case that the account holder is an organization) for investigation and comparison in the process of using the payment account.

8. Based on their units’ supply conditions and capacity, banks, branches of foreign banks shall guide the customers on order, procedure for opening the account payment, including the case of refusing to open the payment account in compliance with the regulations in this Circular, laws on anti-money laundering and take responsibilities on the accuracy, coherence and sufficiency of the dossier for opening the payment account.”

6. To add Article 14a as follows:

“Article 14a. Opening the personal payment account by electronic method

1. Banks, branches of foreign banks opening the personal payment account by electronic method must build, issue, take public the process and procedure to open the payment account by electronic method in compliance with the provision of this Article, laws on anti-money laundering, laws on electronic transactions and other relevant legal regulations on security and confidentiality of customer information and operations of banks and branches of foreign banks, including at least the steps as follows:

a) Collect the information on dossier for opening the payment account in compliance with the provisions in Clauses 1, 4, 5 Article 12, Clause 1, Article 13 of this Circular;

b) Investigate, compare and verify the identification information of the customer;

c) Warn the customer on banned acts in the process of opening and using the electronic payment account;

d) Supply the contract of opening and using payment account to the customer in accordance with the provision in Clause 1, Article 13a of this Circular and make the contract of opening and using the payment account with the customer;

dd) Inform the number, name of payment account, transaction limit of the payment account and the beginning time of the payment account to the customer.

2. Banks, branches of foreign banks may decide the methods, forms or technology to recognize and verify the customer for opening payment account by electronic method; take responsible for arising risks (if any) and satisfy the minimum requirements as follows:

a) Have solutions, technology to collect, investigate, compare and ensure the match between customer’s identity information, biometric data (which are the biometric factors and characteristics associated with a customer’s identification that are difficult to fake, have low overlap percentage such as fingerprint, face, iris, voice and other biometric factors) with relevant information, biometric factors in the customer’s identity papers as prescribed  in Clause 1, Article 12 of this Circular or with the personal identification data which are verified by the authorized state agency or other credit institutions or by the organizations permitted to provide identification services and electronic verification;

b) Have technical measures to confirm that identified customer agrees with the contents in the contract on opening and using the payment account;

c) Build the process of management, control, risk assessment including the measures to prevent impersonation, interference, modification, and falsifying the verification of customer identification information before, during and after opening the payment account for the customer; the measures to check and verity the customer’s identity information to ensure that the customer performing transactions on the payment account opened by electronic method is the account holder. In case of detecting risks, discrepancies or extraordinary signs between customer’s identification information and customer’s biometric factors or any suspicious transactions in compliance with legal regulations on anti-money laundering in the process of using the payment account, banks and branches of foreign banks shall promptly refuse or suspend transactions, temporarily close or blockade the payment account, and re-verify the customer’s identification information. The process of risk management and control must be regularly reviewed and completed based on the updated information and data in the process of service supply;

d) Store and preserve fully and in details over time for customer’s identification information and data in the process of opening and using the payment account, such as: customer’s identification information; biometric factors; sound; images, recording, sound recording; phone number for conducting transaction; transaction diary. Information and data must be stored safely, securely; have back up to ensure the data’s completeness and integrity in serving the investigation, comparison, settlement of investigation, complaints, dispute and information supply when having any requirements from the authorized state agencies. The period of storage shall comply with the legal regulations on anti-money laundering.

3. Based on the technological conditions, banks, branches of foreign banks shall take the risk assessment, define the scope of using and decide to apply the transaction limit of the payment account that is opened by the electronic method, but must ensure the total transaction value (debit) via that customer’s payment account not exceeding VND 100 million/month/customer.

4. Banks, branches of foreign banks are allowed to apply the transaction limit higher than the limit specified in Clause 3 of this Article for the payment account opened by the electronic method in one of the following cases:

a) Banks, branches of foreign banks use video call to collect, check and verify customer’s identification information when opening the payment account to get as high efficiency as process of defining and verifying customer’s information by meeting face to face; video call solution must satisfy the requirements as follows: ensure safety and security; high resolution; continuous signal; allow for audio and image interactions with the customers in real time to ensure the identification of real person; store all data of audio, image or image recording, sound recording in the process of opening payment account for the customer;

b) Banks, branches of foreign banks shall apply the technology to check, compare customer’s biometric characteristics with citizen’s biometric data in the citizen identity database;

c) After banks, branches of foreign banks have identified, confirmed customer’s information by meeting the account holder;

d) Transaction of money transfer for saving, term deposit by electronic method to the account holder at that bank, branches of foreign banks;

dd) Cases that banks, branches of foreign banks actively take the debit from the payment account of the customer as prescribed at Point a, Clause 1, Article 6 of this Circular.

5. Opening the payment account by electronic method in this Article shall not be applicable to the shared payment account, personal customers who are the foreigners and other subjects prescribed at Points b c, d, Clause 1, Article 11 of this Circular.”

Article 2. Responsibilities of implementation organization

The Chief Officers, Heads of the affiliated-units of the State Bank; banks, branches of foreign banks shall implement this Circular.

Article 3. Implementation provisions

1. This Circular takes effect on March 05, 2021.

2. This Circular annuls Clauses 7, 8, 9, Article 1 of the Circular No. 02/2019/TT-NHNN dated February 28, 2019 of the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Circular No. 23/2014/TT-NHNN dated August 19, 2014 of the Governor of State Bank of Vietnam providing guidelines for opening and maintenance of current accounts at payment service providers.

For the Governor

The Deputy Governor

Nguyen Kim Anh