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From the start of 2026, millions of account holders at major banks including Vietcombank, VietinBank, Agribank and BIDV have faced abrupt disruptions to their transactions. The State Bank has introduced new measures to clean electronic data and ensure safe transactions for the public. The updates, effective from January 1, 2026, expand the scope of control and require customers to quickly adapt to protect their financial rights. The stated objective is to seal security gaps and prevent high-tech fraud, with the banking system automatically restricting transaction flows—covering cash withdrawals, online transfers and card payments—when mandatory conditions are not met.
According to Circular 17/2024/TT-NHNN and Circular 18/2024/TT-NHNN, banks including Vietcombank, BIDV, VietinBank, Agribank, MB, VPBank and others have implemented the new regulations.
The most common reason an account is locked is that customers have not completed biometric data authentication or are still using expired identity documents.
Restrictions apply across multiple channels, including:
The rules cover four individual scenarios:
The rules also apply to two corporate scenarios:
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