Circular No. 35/2013/TT-NHNN dated January 01 of the State Bank of Vietnam guiding a number of provisions on anti-money laundering

CIRCULAR

Guiding a number of provisions
on anti-money laundering[1]

Pursuant to June 16, 2010 Law No. 46/2010/QH12 on the State Bank of Vietnam;

Pursuant to June 18, 2012 Anti-Money Laundering Law No. 07/2012/QH13;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 116/2013/ND-CP of October 4, 2013, detailing a number of articles of the Anti-Money Laundering Law;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 156/2013/ND-CP of November 11, 2013, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the State Bank of Vietnam;

At the proposal of the Chief of the Banking Supervisory Agency,

The Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam promulgates the Circular guiding a number of provisions on anti-money laundering.

Article 1.Scope of regulation

This Circular provides the intensive assessment of high-risk clients; the notification of the list of foreign individuals with political influence; the contents and forms of reports; high-value transactions, suspicious transactions, electronic money-transfer transactions and acts of money laundering for terrorist financing; and the value of precious metals, gems and negotiable instruments subject to customs declaration.

Article 2.Subjects of application

1. Reporting subjects defined in Clauses 1 and 2, Article 2 of the Anti-Money Laundering Law.

2. Vietnamese organizations and individuals; foreigners or stateless persons living or not living in the Vietnamese territory; and foreign organizations, international organizations and non-governmental organizations operating or not operating in the Vietnamese territory that perform financial transactions or other property transactions with the subjects defined in Clause 1 of this Article.

Article 3.Measures of intensive assessment of high-risk clients

For high-risk clients not defined in Articles 13 thru 17 of the Anti-Money Laundering Law, reporting subjects shall, in addition to the identification measures specified in Article 9 of the Anti-Money Laundering Law, apply the following measures of intensive assessment:

1. Obtaining approval of the management authority at least one level higher than the approving authority applicable to ordinary clients when clients establish relations for the first time or when existing clients are assessed as high-risk clients. For existing clients assessed or re-assessed to be high-risk clients, reporting subjects shall submit to competent authorities for approval or re-approval the relations with these clients and apply intensive measures specified in Clauses 2, 3 and 4 of this Article.

2. Additionally collecting the following information:

a/ For an individual client:

- His/her monthly average income over the last 6 months; name, address and telephone number of the agency, organization or owner of the establishment where he/she works or earns major income;

- Full names, addresses and occupations of his/her spouse and children.

b/ For an institutional client:

- The production, business or service line that generates major income;

- The financial statements of the last 2 years;

- The list (full names, addresses and telephone numbers) of members of the Board of Directors or Members’ Council, members of the Management Board, the chief accountant or equivalent posts;

- The list (names, addresses and representatives) of the parent company, subsidiaries and representative offices (if any).

3. Closely supervising transactions of high-risk clients.

4. Updating information at least every 6 months or when knowing that client information has changed.

Article 4.List of foreign individuals with political influence

1. The list of foreign individuals with political influence prescribed in Clause 1, Article 13 of the Anti-Money Laundering Law shall be published on the website of the State Bank of Vietnam at http://www.sbv.gov.vn.

2. The access to and use of the list of foreign individuals with political influence must comply with the guidance of the Banking Supervisory Agency under the State Bank of Vietnam (below referred to as the Banking Supervisory Agency); reporting subjects may not provide information on this list to a third party without permission of the Banking Supervisory Agency.

3. Reporting subjects shall register in writing with the Banking Supervisory Agency (through the Anti-Money Laundering Agency) information on persons that access and use the list of foreign individuals with political influence, including their full names, numbers of identity cards or valid passports, positions, telephone numbers, addresses of workplaces, and email addresses.

Article 5.Reporting on high-value transactions

1. When performing high-value transactions, reporting subjects shall send written reports made according to form No. 02 enclosed with this Circular(not translated)or send electronic data files under Article 10 of this Circular to the Anti-Money Laundering Agency.

2. In case a client pays a large cash amount in foreign currency for exchange of Vietnam dong or pays a large cash amount in Vietnam dong for exchange of foreign currencies, reporting subjects shall report on cash-payment transactions only.

3. Contents of a report on high-value transactions:

a/ Client information:

- For an individual client: full name, date of birth, identity card or passport number, nationality (for a multiple-nationality client, fully report his/her nationalities and residence registration addresses in the countries of which he/she holds nationalities), and residence address in Vietnam;

- For an institutional client: name, address, country and tax identification number; for an institutional client without tax identification number, report the serial number of the operation license or establishment decision or business registration certificate.

b/ Information on transactions:

- For high-value transactions in cash (Vietnam dong or foreign currency): date of performing the transaction, account number (if any), type of transaction, transaction code (the sole reference number for each transaction), transacted amount, currency used in the transaction, amount converted into Vietnam dong (at the exchange rate applicable to relevant transactions at the time of performing the transaction), reason for and purpose of the transaction, name and location of the place where the transaction occurs;

- For high-value gold-trading transactions: date of performing the transaction, type of transaction, transaction code (the sole reference number for each transaction), volume (unit of calculation: kilogram, listed by kind of goods), value of each transaction, total value of transactions converted into Vietnam dong in a day, reason for and purpose of the transaction, name and location of the place where the transaction occurs;

c/ Other information as specified in the forms enclosed with this Circular(not translated).

4. Reporting subjects shall review and screen high-value cash transactions for promptly detecting suspicious transactions.

Article 6.Reporting on suspicious transactions

1. When detecting suspicious transactions prescribed in Article 22 of the Anti-Money Laundering Law and Article 14 of the Government’s Decree No. 116/2013/ND-CP of October 4, 2013, detailing a number of articles of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering, reporting subjects shall send written reports made according to form No. 01 enclosed with this Circular(not translated)or send electronic data files under Article 10 of this Circular, to the Anti-Money Laundering Agency.

2. The Anti-Money Laundering Agency shall certify its receipt of reports on suspicious transactions and, when necessary, give feedback on arising problems to reporting subjects.

Article 7.Reporting on electronic money-transfer transactions

1. When providing the service of electronic money transfer of value exceeding the prescribed level, reporting subjects shall send written reports or electronic data files under Article 10 of this Circular, to the Anti-Money Laundering Agency.

2. The contents of a report include the following information:

a/ For a money transfer order-making organization: transaction name of the organization or transaction place; contact address; and country.

b/ For a beneficiary-serving organization: transaction name of the organization or transaction place; contact address; and country.

c/ Money transferring and beneficiary individuals and organizations:

- For an individual: full name; number of identity card or valid passport; account number (if any); transaction code; transacted amount and currency used in the transaction; contact address; and country.

- For an organization: name; account number; tax identification number; business registration number; transaction code; transacted amount and currency used in the transaction; contact address; and country.

3. Intermediary organizations shall preserve transaction dossiers with the information specified in Clause 2 of this Article for at least 5 years from the date a transaction is performed and provide such dossiers to competent state agencies upon request, and they are not required to report electronic money-transfer transactions to the Anti-Money Laundering Agency.

4. Reporting subjects licensed to conduct international electronic money transfer shall develop appropriate information technology systems serving the reporting in electronic data files under Article 10 of this Circular and must have a software system for screening and analyzing transactions for the purpose of preventing and combating money laundering and preventing other risks.

Article 8.Reporting on acts of money laundering for terrorist financing

1. When detecting that transaction-performing organizations and individuals are in the blacklist or when having grounds to believe that other organizations and individuals commit acts related to the crime of money laundering for terrorist financing, reporting subjects shall report acts of money laundering for terrorist financing to the Financial Action Task Force under the Ministry of Public Security and, at the same time, send written reports or electronic data files under Article 10 of this Circular, to the Anti-Money Laundering Agency.

2. For a written report, its content includes the following information:

a/ For the reporting subject: name, address and telephone number;

b/ For the report-receiving agency: name and address;

c/ For organizations and individuals being in the blacklist or committing acts related to the crime of money laundering for terrorist financing: name; nationality; and other information such as identity card or passport number, tax identification number, business registration number, address, account number, and reference number of transaction (if any);

d/ For other related organizations and individuals: names; nationalities; relations with the organizations and individuals defined at Point c of this Clause; and other information such as identity card or passport number, tax identification number, business registration number, address, account number, and reference number of transaction (if any);

dd/ For electronic money transfer: the information specified in Clause 2, Article 7 of this Circular;

e/ Interim measures already applied and information on transactions and property related to these measures;

g/ Full name and signature of the competent person and seal of the reporting subject (if any).

3. The time limit for sending a report is the same as that for a report on a transaction showing signs of connection to a crime under Clause 7, Article 16 of the Government’s Decree No. 116/2013/ND-CP of October 4, 2013, detailing a number of articles of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering.

Article 9.Value of cash in foreign currency or Vietnam dong, precious metals, gems and negotiable instruments subject to customs declaration

1. The value of precious metals and gems (except gold) is VND 300,000,000 (three hundred million), specifically:

a/ Precious metals (except gold) include silver, platinum, silver or platinum fine-art articles and jewelries; and alloys containing silver or platinum.

b/ Gems include diamond, ruby, sapphire and emerald.

2. Value of negotiable instruments: VND 300,000,000 (three hundred million).

3. The value of cash in foreign currency or Vietnam dong and the value of gold subject to customs declaration must comply with the regulations of the State Bank of Vietnam.

Article 10.Reporting in electronic data files

1. Report in electronic data files means a report presented in the form of data file transmitted via the transmission line of the State Bank of Vietnam.

2. A report in electronic data file must comply with the format, sign, data transmission code and file structure guided by the Banking Supervisory Agency.

3. Reporting subjects shall transmit data according to the process prescribed by the State Bank of Vietnam and apply information confidentiality measures prescribed in Article 29 of the Anti-Money Laundering Law.

4. Reporting subjects shall install file transmission software supplied by the Anti-Money Laundering Agency.

5. Time limit for sending a report: At the end of a working day, reporting subjects shall summarize data and send reports under regulations. The deadline for sending a report is 16:00 hours of the working day following the day when a transaction occurs. If the day following the day when a transaction occurs is a holiday or weekend, the day for sending a report is the working day following such holiday or weekend. If delaying the sending of reports for 2 (two) or more days or sending incomplete reports, reporting subjects shall explain such delay or incompleteness to the Anti-Money Laundering Agency. If detecting errors in the sent reports, reporting subjects shall promptly send official letters or emails explaining such errors to the Anti-Money Laundering Agency.

6. Reporting subjects shall register in writing with the Anti-Money Laundering Agency the following information on their officers in charge of electronic reporting: full name, position, address of workplace, telephone number and email address, and shall notify in writing any change in such information or replacement of these officers.

Article 11.Effect

1. This Circular takes effect on February 14, 2014.

2. This Circular replaces the State Bank of Vietnam’s Circular No. 22/2009/TT-NHNN of November 17, 2009, guiding anti-money laundering measures, and Circular No. 41/2011/TT-NHNN of December 15, 2011, guiding the identification and updating of client information on the basis of risk to serve anti-money laundering work.

Article 12.Implementation responsibility

1. Heads of competent state agencies defined in the Anti-Money Laundering Law and reporting subjects defined in Clause 1, Article 2 of this Circular shall organize the implementation of this Circular.

2. Any problems arising in the course of implementation should be reported to the State Bank of Vietnam (via the Anti-Money Laundering Agency) for timely guidance.-

For the Governor of
the State Bank of Vietnam
Deputy Governor
DANG THANH BINH