Prevent money laundering: All electronic transactions from 1,000 USD at the Financial Center must be reported

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This is one of the notable contents that the State Bank has put forward for comments in the Draft Decree regulating the licensing of the establishment and operation of banks, foreign exchange management, anti-money laundering, anti-terrorist financing, and financing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction at the International Financial Center in Vietnam.

The Draft Decree is a step to concretize Resolution No. 222/2025/QH15 of the National Assembly on the establishment of an international financial center, aiming to form a legal framework with specific and outstanding policies on foreign exchange, banking activities and anti-money laundering to attract international capital, while ensuring national financial and monetary security.

According to the State Bank's submission to the Government, this agency emphasized that the purpose of establishing an international financial center in Resolution No. 222/2025/QH15 is to require easing the free conversion of foreign currencies and capital flows for cross-border transactions... Therefore, it is necessary to study the legal framework to both ensure "freedom" within the scope of the international financial center and minimize the risk of interconnection to the domestic economy .

Regarding the capital flow control mechanism, the draft Decree clearly stipulates: Capital flow from the International Financial Center to the rest of Vietnam; capital flow circulating within the International Financial Center; capital flow between the International Financial Center and the world : Allowed; capital flow shifting from the rest of Vietnam's territory to the International Financial Center: Not allowed.

Notably, the State Bank also noted that money laundering risks may arise when the International Financial Center opens up strongly to international capital flows. The document clearly stated that with a higher level of openness in the International Financial Center regarding capital flows, cross-border transactions, and the presence of many large international financial institutions in fields other than banking, there must be a strict policy mechanism so that subjects do not "take advantage" of the International Financial Center and its outstanding specific policies to "legalize" money sources.

Accordingly, regulations on reporting electronic money transfer transactions from the threshold of 1,000 USD are included in the draft Decree as one of the key solutions to enhance transparency, in line with anti-money laundering requirements. In addition, the draft Decree also defines the principle of clear distinction between banking activities and other fields.

To ensure clear distinction between service providers when the International Financial Center is established, banking activities are built as traditional banking activities, excluding securities and insurance activities... Based on the defined scope of activities, regulations on limits and safety guarantee ratios will be built accordingly.

At the same time, commercial banks and foreign bank branches when participating in the International Financial Center to provide banking services and operations must comply with safety ratios (minimum capital safety ratio, liquidity ratio, solvency ratio, etc.) according to current law provisions, taking into account the suitability with the nature of operations of each type of bank in the International Financial Center.

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/kinh-te/202508/chan-rua-tien-moi-giao-dich-dien-tu-tu-1000-usd-tai-trung-tam-tai-chinh-phai-bao-cao-ba8390c/