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The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has issued Dispatch No. 3276/NHNN-TT, requiring credit institutions and payment intermediaries to comprehensively overhaul payment operations in response to increasingly sophisticated fraud, scams, and illegal payments conducted through accounts, cards and e-wallets.
SBV said the overhaul must strengthen risk controls, transaction monitoring, and tight management of payment-accepting units to ensure system safety and protect customers. Credit institutions and payment intermediaries are asked to focus on effectively implementing risk management, control, prevention, detection and deterrence of fraud, phantom payments, and illegal payments through payment accounts, bank cards and e-wallets.
Entities are also required to thoroughly comply with applicable laws and SBV directives on opening and using payment accounts, card operations and e-wallets, ensuring security, safety and confidentiality in online banking services.
SBV requires compliance with Clause 5, Article 7 of Circular 30/2025/TT-NHNN, which amends Clause 3a of Article 19 of Circular 15/2024/TT-NHNN. Under this requirement, when performing payment transactions, banks must verify the legality and validity of the payment instruction, ensuring full and accurate display of the account number and account name on the payment voucher.
SBV asked organizations to review and evaluate internal procedures related to developing payment-accepting units and to implement the Know-Your-Payment-Acceptor process. Organizations should regularly update information on business types, legal documents, identifiers, and information of the legal representative.
SBV also directed entities to classify payment-accepting units by risk level and strengthen supervision and inspection of these units’ operations. In addition, units are required to regularly update the set of criteria for identifying signs of fraud for payment-accepting units, ensure the list of units with signs of violations is fully reported on the SIMO system, and cross-check and verify information against data in the system to promptly detect and handle suspicious cases.
SBV said transaction monitoring should be enhanced system-wide, including counter services and online channels, to promptly detect unusual transactions with signs of violations. The goal is to proactively prevent misuse of accounts, bank cards and e-wallets for illegal activities.
SBV also asked organizations to strengthen communications to customers about personal information security and to warn of fraud schemes. The regulator emphasized prohibitions including using accounts, cards or e-wallets for money laundering, terrorist financing, and fraud, as well as renting, leasing or selling account information.
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