Vietnam: Guidance on revocation of licenses to provide payment intermediary services

Guidance on revocation of licenses to provide payment intermediary services (Image from the Internet)

On May 15, 2024, Hanoi issued Decree 52/2024/ND-CP regulating cashless payments.

Guidance on revocation of licenses to provide payment intermediary services

Article 27 of Decree 52/2024/ND-CP of Vietnam's Government guides the revocation of licenses to provide payment intermediary services as follows:

* The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) shall consider revoking a license in one of the following cases:

- The payment intermediary service provider is subject to dissolution or bankruptcy according to the law;

- The payment intermediary service provider applies for the revocation of the license due to the termination of the provision of licensed payment intermediary services following Form No. 15 enclosed with Decree 52/2024/ND-CP;

DOWNLOAD Form No. 15

- When there is an effective judgment, judgment enforcement decision, or administrative sanction decision of a competent authority or criminal judgment enforcement authority requests the revocation of the license of the payment intermediary service provider or a written request from a competent authority or criminal judgment enforcement authority for the revocation of the license of the payment intermediary service provider;

- The payment intermediary service provider uses or takes advantage of its payment account, payment instruments, payment services, or payment intermediary services to commit gambling, gambling organization, fraud, illegal trading, money laundering, terrorism financing, or financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;

- After 3 months from the date SBV issues a written notification to the provider of the violation of one of the requirements prescribed in Points a, b, c, d, e, and g Clause 2 Article 22 of Decree 52/2024/ND-CP or the technical system fails to meet Point dd Clause 2 Article 22 of Decree 52/2024/ND-CP and the provider fails to carry out requested remedial measures;

- The payment intermediary service provider fails to comply with Clause 3 Article 22 of Decree 52/2024/ND-CP, provide proof document, ensure that proof documents comply with Clause 4 Article 24 of Decree 52/2024/ND-CP, or carry out remedial measures after 3 months from the date SBV issue a written notification requesting the provider to carry out remedial measures;

- During an inspection or supervision of the provision of payment intermediary services, the provider is detected to fail to provide licensed payment intermediary services for clients for 6 consecutive months;

- The payment intermediary service provider repeats the violation of dishonestly reporting on the balance and number of e-wallets as per regulation.

* License revocation procedure

- If the provider is subject to dissolution or bankruptcy according to Point a Clause 1 Article 27 of Decree 52/2024/ND-CP, the provider shall submit an application for the license revocation following Form No. 15 enclosed with Decree 52/2024/ND-CP to SBV within 7 working days from the date of approval for the enterprise dissolution decision according to the Law on Enterprises 2020 of Vietnam or the date of receipt of the bankruptcy declaration decision of a People’s Court according to the law on bankruptcy. 10 working days after receiving the application, SBV shall issue a decision to revoke the license.

10 working days after receiving the application for license revocation due to the termination of the provision of payment intermediary services from the provider as prescribed in Point b Clause 1 Article 27 of Decree 52/2024/ND-CP, SBV shall issue a decision to revoke the license.

20 working days after the occurrence of one of the cases prescribed in Points c, d, dd, and e Clause 1 Article 27 of Decree 52/2024/ND-CP, SBV shall issue a decision to revoke the license.

- When the payment intermediary service provider has signs of violations as prescribed in Points g and h Clause 1 Article 27 of Decree 52/2024/ND-CP, SBV shall consider revoking the license and issue a written notification requesting explanations to the provider.

20 working days after receiving the written notification from SBV, if the licensed provider does not have any explanation document or the explanations are unreasonable, SBV shall consider issuing a decision to revoke the license.

​* After receiving the decision of SBV on the license revocation, the provider subject to the license revocation shall immediately suspend the provision of payment intermediary services.

Within 30 days from the date SBV issues the decision on license revocation, the provider subject to the license revocation shall issue written notifications to relevant organizations and individuals to liquidate contracts and fulfill obligations and responsibilities between concerned parties as prescribed by the law.

After the provider subject to the license revocation has fulfilled all obligations and responsibilities between concerned parties as prescribed by the law, it may apply for a license to provide payment intermediary services according to Article 22 of Decree 52/2024/ND-CP after 3 years from the date its license is revoked in the case prescribed in Clause 1 Article 27 of Decree 52/2024/ND-CP. Applications and procedures for license issuance shall comply with Article 23 and Article 24 of Decree 52/2024/ND-CP.

For more details, refer to Decree 52/2024/ND-CP, effective from July 1, 2024.

Decree 52/2024/ND-CP supersedes Decree 101/2012/ND-CP on cashless payment; Decree 80/2016/ND-CP amending Decree 101/2012/ND-CP; and annuls Article 3 of Decree 16/2019/ND-CP on the amendment of regulations on business conditions under the State Bank’s management.

To Quoc Trinh

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