In order to better manage the opening, blocking and closure of individual payment accounts, the government issued Decree No 101/2012/ND-CP on November 22. The new decree will apply to non-cash payment service providers, payment intermediary services, and users.
Under the decree, the purposes of payment accounts, and the rights and responsibilities of account holders and regulations on use of these accounts must be clearly provided in writing. Account holders may use their accounts for cash deposit and withdrawal and to request payment service providers to carry out lawful payment transactions and provide information on transactions and balances on their accounts. Payment service providers may reject improper payment orders of account holders, or when the account balance is insufficient, unless otherwise agreed. Persons opening individual payment accounts must have civil legal and acting capacity and, if between the ages of 15 and 18, meet property ownership requirements and have legal guardians. The decree specifies four cases in which an account may be blocked: (i) under a written decision or request of an agency authorized under the law; (ii) when the payment service provider detects an error in money transfer; (iii) when the payment service provider detects a payment-related fraud or violation of the law; or (iv) when there is a dispute among the joint holders of a common payment account. The decree will take effect on March 26, 2013.
Draft governs balance of payments: A draft decree revising Decree No 164 of 1999 on management of the country’s balance of international payments has recently been circulated with specific proposals on the statistical scope of items in the balance of payments. Under current regulations, the statistical scope of such elements of the balance of payments as imports, exports, foreign direct and indirect investment, and offshore loans and investments, have has not yet been specified, leading to inconsistent understanding of the statistical method being applied and resulting in disparity in the statistical data released by related ministries and sectors. To address these limitations, the draft decree would define the balance of payments as covering all kinds of changes in ownership of assets between residents and non-residents. Excluded from the calculation would be assets brought across the border without any transfer of ownership between a resident to a non-resident, including gold imported or exported by the central bank for management of State foreign reserves. The draft would further stipulate that foreign direct investment would include cash and other lawful assets brought into Vietnam and profits re-invested by non-residents who directly manage investments in Vietnam. Indirect foreign investment would transactions between residents and non-residents whereby non-residents buy securities and other valuable papers issued by residents or contribute capital to or buy shares directly from Vietnamese enterprises or through investment funds or other intermediary financial institutions but do not participate in the management of their investment in Vietnam. Offshore direct investments would be defined as overseas investments made with cash or other lawful assets brought from Vietnam as well as profits earned overseas by Vietnamese nationals who directly manage their overseas investment projects. Offshore indirect investment would include residents’ purchase of stocks or other valuable papers issued by non-residents. The State Bank of Vietnam says the draft regulations have been devised in line with IMF guidance on international balance statistics as well as relevant domestic laws.
Source: VNS
