Cases required to undertake customer due diligence regarding money laundering activities in Vietnam

Cases required to undertake customer due diligence regarding money laundering activities in Vietnam (Internet image) 

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. Cases required to undertake customer due diligence regarding money laundering activities in Vietnam

Specifically, Article 6 of Decree 19/2023/ND-CP stipulates cases required to undertake customer due diligence regarding money laundering activities in Vietnam including:

- A financial institution is required to undertake customer due diligence (CDD) measures:

+ when a customer first opens an account, including a payment account, e-wallet and other account; or when a customer first establishes a relationship with the financial institution to use its products and services;

+ when a customer that does not have an account, or has an account inactive during the last six consecutive months, deposits, withdraws, or transfers money totaling at least VND 400,000,000, or a foreign-currency amount of equal or greater value a day, except for a final settlements or withdrawals of savings interest, credit card debt repayments, repayments of loans to financial institutions, instalment payments registered with financial institutions, withdrawals of profits from securities or bond investment portfolios;

+ when a customer or a customer's transaction or a transaction between the involved parties has one or more signs specified in Article 27, 28, 29, 30 and 31 of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering, or other suspicious signs identified by a reporting entity;

+ when a customer provides additional information or documents that do not match the previous information or documents, or the information and documents collected and identified by the reporting entity.

- Entities and persons doing the business of prize-awarding games, including prize-awarding electronic games; telecommunications network-based games, Internet-based games; casinos; lottery tickets; betting are required to identify their customer when the customer performs an transaction totaling at least VND 70,000,000, or a foreign-currency amount of equal or greater value a day.

- Entities and persons doing real estate business, except for real property leasing, subleasing, and consulting services, must identify buyers and sellers when providing real estate brokerage services; must identify real property owners when providing real estate management services.

-  Entities and persons trading in precious metals and gems must identify their customer when the customer makes a cash transaction worth at least VND 400,000,000, or a foreign-currency amount of equal or greater value to buy or sell precious metals and gems a day.

- Entities and persons providing legal agreement services must identify their customer when acting on behalf of the customer to perform a transaction related to establishment, administration or management of legal agreements.

- When providing services involving establishment, management and administration of businesses, entities and persons must identify their customers that use or request services.

- When providing services of acting as (or arranging for another person to act as) a director or secretary of a company to a third party, entities and persons must apply CDD measures to that third party and director or secretary.

2. Customer Identification Data related to money laundering activities in Vietnam

Pursuant to Article 10 of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering 2022, the reporting entities shall collect customer identification data, including:

- Customer’s identity, including information about a representative of an individual customer (if any):

+ For an individual customer adopting Vietnam as his/her only one citizenship: His/her full name; birth date; nationality; profession, job position; contact phone number; number of ID card, Citizen ID card, personal identification, passport, date and place of issuance; permanent residence address and other present residence (if any);

+ For an individual customer with only one citizenship who is a foreign resident in Vietnam: His/her full name; birth date; nationality; profession and job position; contact phone number; number, date and place of issuance of the passport; reference number of the entry visa, except when he/she is granted visa exemption permitted by law; residence address in his/her home country and registered residence address in Vietnam;

+ For an individual customer with only one citizenship who is a foreign nonresident in Vietnam: His/her full name; birth date; nationality; profession, job title; number of passport or identity issued by a foreign competent authority, date or place of issuance; residence address in his/her home country;

+ For the individual customer having dual or multiple citizenship: the same as those prescribed in point a, b or c of this clause; nationality(ies), residence address(es) in the country(ies) of the other citizenship;

+ For the individual customer who is a nonnational: His/her full name; birth date; profession and job position; reference number of laissez passer (if any); reference number of visa; the authority issuing entry visa, except if he/she is granted visa exemption permitted by law; residence address in his/her home country and registered residence address in Vietnam;

+ For an institutional customer: Its full and abbreviated transaction name; main office; reference number of the incorporation permit, business reference number or tax identification number; contact phone number; facsimile number, website (if any); scope of activities or lines of business; information about the founder, duly authorized representative, Director or General Director, Chief Accountant or staff member in charge of accounting tasks (if any), including the corresponding information specified in point a, b, c, d and dd of clause 1 of Article 10 of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering 2022, and the information prescribed in point e of Claus1 of Article 10 of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering 2022 required if the founder is an organization;

- Information about the beneficial owner, including relevant customer identification data specified in point a, b, c, d or dd of clause 1 of Article 10 of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering 2022. The reporting entities shall identify the beneficial owner and apply due diligence measures to identify and update information about that beneficial owner. The Government shall elaborate on criteria for identification of beneficial owners;

- Purposes and nature of business relationships between customers and reporting entities.

Ho Quoc Tuan

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