How much is penalty for buying, selling or lending a bank account in Vietnam?

How much is penalty for buying, selling or lending a bank account in Vietnam?

At Clause 5, Clause 9, Clause 10, Article 26 of Decree 88/2019/ND-CP as amended by Point c, Clause 15, Article 1 of Decree 143/2021/ND-CP providing for violations against regulations on payments, as follows:

5. A fine ranging from 40.000.000 VND to 50.000.000 VND for the following violations:

a) Renting, leasing, borrowing, lending checking accounts or purchasing and selling information of 1 to less than 10 checking accounts, if not liable to criminal prosecution;

b) Forging receipts when providing or using payment services, if not liable to criminal prosecution.

9. Additional penalties:

The exhibits and instrumentalities used for committing the administrative violation prescribed in Clause 1, or Point b Clause 5 or Point c or d Clause 6 of this Article shall be confiscated.

10. Remedial measures:

a) Enforced transfer of illegal profits obtained from the administrative violation prescribed in Clauses 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 of this Article to state budget;

b) Prohibition from expanding of the operating scope, scale and areas until remedial measures against the violation are completed regarding violations prescribed in Points a, c ,d Clause 6, Point c Clause 7, and Point a Clause 8 of this Article;

c) Proposed revocation of the written approval on provision of payment services that are not through customers’ checking accounts regarding violations prescribed in Point dd Clause 6 of this Article.

In addition, Clause 4, Article 3 of Decree 88/2019/ND-CP stipulates the level of fines and the authority to impose fines, accordingly:

4. Remedial measures:

Depending on the nature and severity of each administrative violation in the monetary and banking sector, the violating entity may be liable to one or some of the following remedial measures as prescribed in Chapter II hereof:

a) Enforced transfer of profits illegally obtained from the administrative violation to state budget; enforced debt recovery; enforced recovery of improperly used funds; enforced recovery of the amount of credit extended beyond the credit extension limits;

b) Enforced divestment of a subsidiary or associate company; enforced sale of shares exceeding the prescribed limits; enforced transfer of shares/stakes; enforced retrieval of transferred shares;

c) Enforced establishment of funds in accordance with law regulations; enforced maintenance of prudential ratios within a maximum period of 06 months; enforced classification of assets and creation of provisions for losses; enforced reversal of improperly used provisions for losses, and recording of debts settled by using provisions for losses on the balance sheet as prescribed; enforced invalidation of internal rules which are issued inconsistently with law regulations; enforced compliance with regulations on information system security in banking operations; enforced maintenance of the fulfillment of requirements to be issued with the certificate of eligibility to provide credit information services;

d) Enforced return/recovery of trust assets for trustors; enforced reimbursement of collected insurance premiums, and recovery of delivered insurance payouts; enforced reversal of the sale of debts;

dd) Enforced correction of false information; enforced submission of adequate and accurate reports; enforced full payment of insurance premiums;

e) Enforced sealing and punching of counterfeit money;

g) Enforced destruction of the exhibits and instrumentalities used for committing administrative violations;

h) Enforced maintenance of prescribed ratios of the value of fixed assets directly used to serve operations to sum of the charter capital or assigned capital and the fund for charter capital increase or the fund for assigned capital increase in accordance with regulations;

i) Enforced posting of the copy of certificate of deposit insurance; enforced completion of procedures for approval for listing of shares on a foreign securities market or suspension of the listing of shares on a foreign securities market;

k) Prohibition of expansion of operating scope, scale and regions until remedial measures agaisnt the violation have been successfully implemented;

l) Suspension of division of dividends;

m) Prohibition of conclusion of merchant service agreements with other acquirers;

n) Proposed revocation of license, certificate of currency exchange agent, license to open and use an offshore foreign-currency account, license for individual currency exchange counter, or license for gold bullion trading; proposed suspension, dismissal or prohibition of violating entities and/or persons responsible for the violation from holding management and supervision positions at credit institutions or FBBs; proposed dismissal and implementation of other appropriate measures against violating entities under the competence of credit institutions or FBBs;

o) Replacement or proposed dismissal of elected or appointed persons who commit administrative violations.

According to this Article, when committing violations in Vietnam, individuals may be fined from VND 40,000,000 to VND 50,000,000. In addition, the material evidences and means used were confiscated, and they were also forced to pay into the state budget the illegal profits obtained from committing violations. For organizations, the fine will be from 80,000,000 to 100,000,000 VND.

Is buying, selling, or lending a bank account liable for criminal prosecution in Vietnam? 

Pursuant to Article 291 of the 2015 Penal Code, which stipulates illegal collection, possession, exchanging, trading, publishing of information about bank accounts, as follows:

1. Any person who illegally collects, possesses, exchanges, trades, publishes information about other people's bank accounts with a quantity of 20 - 49 accounts or earns an illegal profit of from VND 20,000,000 to under VND 50,000,000 shall be liable to a fine of from VND 20,000,000 to VND 100,000,000 or face a penalty of up to 03 years' community sentence.

2. This offence committed in any of the following circumstances carries a fine of from VND 1000,000,000 to VND 200,000,000 or a penalty of 03 - 24 months' imprisonment:

a) The offence involves information about 50 - 199 accounts of other people;

b) The offence is committed by an organized group;

c) The offence is committed in a professional manner;

d) The illegal profit earned is from VND 50,000,000 to under VND 200,000,000;

dd) Dangerous recidivism.

3. This offence committed in any of the following circumstances carries a fine of from VND 200,000,000 to VND 500,000,000 or a penalty of 02 - 07 years' imprisonment:

a) The offence involves information about ≥ 200 accounts of other people;

b) The illegal profit earned is ≥ VND 200,000,000;

4. The offender might also be liable to a fine of from VND 10,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 or prohibited from holding certain positions or doing certain jobs for 01 - 05 years or have part or all of his/her property confiscated.

Thus, depending on the number of accounts and the amount of illegal profits from buying and selling accounts, the offender may be fined from 20,000,000 VND to 500,000,000 VND or sentenced to community sentence of up to 03 years. years, imprisonment from 3 months to 07 years. Offenders may also be banned from holding certain positions, practicing certain occupations or doing certain jobs for 1 to 5 years or having part or all of their assets confiscated in Vietnam.

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