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The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has issued Document No. 2042/2026, urging credit institutions to tighten payment discipline in response to rising high-tech crime and to prevent the misuse of banking services for illegal purposes.
SBV said the document was sent to banks and foreign branches to review and ensure compliance with current laws governing payment services. The regulator specifically requires commercial banks to strictly control transactions processed through the Electronic Clearing System (ECS).
Under SBV’s current Circular 40/2024, payment orders valued at 500 million đồng or more will not be processed through the ECS.
To ensure the rule is enforced, SBV requires banks not to unilaterally split or separate a customer’s payment order above 500 million đồng into smaller orders in order to pass through the ECS with only one transaction confirmation.
SBV noted that on March 23, the relevant amount was nearly 4,000 billion đồng. After about three weeks, another approximately 170 billion đồng was blocked, helping avoid losses through the SIMO system.
As of April 12, SBV said the SIMO system had alerted over 3.7 million customers. Of these, more than 1.2 million customers paused or canceled transactions after receiving alerts, with total transaction value approaching 4.17 trillion đồng.
Following SBV’s directive, banks including VPBank, TPBank, and Eximbank announced the suspension of the automatic split feature to ensure compliance and strengthen risk controls in the payment system.
With the change, transfers of 500 million đồng and above must be processed through the Interbank Electronic Payment System (CITAD). If a transfer over 500 million đồng is executed during business hours, funds may reach the beneficiary’s account after a few hours. For transfers in the evening, on weekends, or during holidays, processing will occur on the next business day.
Transfers below 500 million đồng continue to be processed through 24/7 fast transfer, enabling immediate processing.
SBV said the ban on splitting large-value transfers supports regulators’ ability to monitor large funds and combat money laundering. It also aims to improve the safety of the online payment environment and reduce fraud risk amid increasingly sophisticated cybercrime.
A commercial bank executive said that slowing large-value transactions above 500 million đồng—beyond controlling cash flow—can increase transparency and reduce risk, helping prevent large-amount account fraud seen in recent times.
The executive added that tightening controls on large-value transactions is important for anti-money-laundering efforts, and that while initial inconvenience may occur, standardized control over cash flows can support clearer oversight and strengthen national financial security.
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