HM&P Engages In Dialogue With The Leadership Of The State Bank Of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City Branch, During A Session With Enterprises

On June 30, 2023, the Investment and Trade Promotion Center (ITPC) in cooperation with the State Bank of Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City Branch organized the 232nd Dialogue Conference between Enterprises and The Ho Chi Minh City Government with the theme "Meeting, dialogue, and addressing challenges and difficulties of enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City in the Banking Sector".

The conference was attended by distinguished guests including Mr. Tran Phu Lu - Director of ITPC and Head of the Enterprise - Government Dialogue System, Mr. Nguyen Duc Lenh - Deputy Director of the State Bank of Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City Branch, and representatives from over 164 enterprises. Among them was Mr. Nguyen Nhat Duong, Lawyer of HM&P Law Firm ("HM&P").

Mr. Nguyen Duc Lenh and Mr. Tran Phu Lu (Sources: ITPC)

Enterprises took part in the conference (Sources: ITPC) 

Throughout the conference, the State Bank of Vietnam leadership fielded over 38 questions from enterprises. These questions covered a wide range of topics, including adjustments to the online submission of loan performance reports, access to appropriate funding sources for socially impactful projects, procedures for registering foreign loans, liquidity support policies, procedures for capital contribution, share acquisition, and investment by foreign investors in Vietnamese enterprises, preferential policies for supporting business capital, and access to credit for newly established enterprises.

Dialogue between enterprises and representatives of the State Bank of Vietnam (Sources: VOH)

In addition, the representatives of the State Bank of Vietnam provided detailed explanations on banking policies and legal regulations, in particular on the declaration of registration information, changes in loan registration, and reporting on self-borrowed and self-paid loans through the electronic portal, pursuant to Circular No. 12/2022/TT-NHNN dated September 30, 2022, issued by the State Bank of Vietnam guiding foreign exchange management for borrowing and repaying foreign loans by enterprises.

At this dialogue conference, HM&P's lawyer, Nguyen Nhat Duong, posed two specific questions to the State Bank of Vietnam:

1. "According to Article 5, Clause 2 of Circular No. 12/2022/TT-NHNN, "To report the situation of the implementation of foreign loans, the borrowing party shall use the electronic portal to make online reporting in accordance with the provisions of this Circular. At the same time, Clause 1, Article 41 of this Circular also states, "In case the electronic portal encounters technical errors and cannot send the report, the borrowing party shall submit the report in writing according to the form in Appendix 05 issued together with this Circular. How can we prove that the technical errors of the electronic portal are not caused by the borrowing party?"

2. According to the provisions of Article 26, Clause 2 of the Investment Law 2020, when foreign investors contribute capital to enterprises in Vietnam (with a shareholding ratio of less than 50%, and the enterprise does not operate in sectors with conditional market access for foreign investors), the enterprise is not required to conduct capital contribution registration procedures. However, when foreign investors open an indirect investment capital account to carry out capital contribution procedures, some banks require capital contribution registration approval from the Department of Planning and Investment. We kindly request the State Bank of Vietnam to provide guidance and direction to banks to implement unified measures and create favorable conditions for foreign investors".

Mr. Nguyen Nhat Duong from HM&P Law Firm posed questioned to the State Bank (Sources: VOH)

These questions were directly answered by Mr. Nguyen Duc Lenh in a satisfactory manner for HM&P and other participating companies. Through the conference, HM&P's team of lawyers not only received direct solutions to pressing issues in their professional practice, but also gained practical knowledge and experience, thereby enhancing their ability to provide professional legal services to clients in the finance and banking sectors. With our extensive experience in these areas and our commitment to continuous learning and improvement, HM&P is confident in providing the highest quality legal services to our valued clients.