Thông tư 39/2014/TT-NHNN

CIRCULAR

GUIDING THE INTERMEDIARY PAYMENT SERVICES

Pursuant to the Law on State Bank of Vietnam No. 46/2010 / QH12 of June 16, 2010;

Pursuant to the Law on Credit Institutions No. 47/2010 / QH12 of June 16, 2010;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 156/2013 / ND-CP of November 11, 2013 on the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the State Bank of Vietnam;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 101/2012 / ND-CP of November 22, 2012 on non-cash payments;

At the request of the Director of Payments Department;

The Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam promulgates the Circular guiding the intermediary payment services.

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GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope and regulated entities

This Circular provides guidance on the intermediary payment services for organizations and individuals ( hereafter referred as entities) involved in the provision and use of the intermediary payment services.

Article 2. Types of intermediary payment services

1. Service of provision of electronic payment infrastructure shall include:

a) Financial switch service ;

b) Electronic clearing service;

c) Electronic payment gateway service.

2. Support service for payment services shall include:

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b) Support service for wire transfer;

c) Digital wallet service

Article 3. Interpretation of terms

In this Circular, the following terms shall be interpreted as follows:

1. Financial switch service is a service providing technical infrastructure to connect, transmit and process electronic data to make payment transactions via ATM, POS, Internet, mobile phone and other electronic transaction channels among providers of payment services and /or among providers of intermediary payment services.

2. Electronic clearing service is a service providing technical infrastructure to receive, compare payment data and calculate the results of receivable and payable amount of money after clearing among the participating parties being providers of payment services or providers of intermediary payment services to make the payments to the parties involved.

3. Electronic payment gateway service is a service providing technical infrastructure to connect between the payment acceptance units and banks to assist customers to make payments in e-commerce transactions, electronic bill payments and other electronic payments.

4. Support service of cash collection and cash payment is a service assisting banks in cash collection and cash payment services for customers owning payment accounts, bank cards at the banks through the receiving, processing and sending electronic data messages and calculating results of cash collection and cash payment; cancelling cash collection and cash payment to make payment to the parties involved.

5. Support service for wire transfer is a service assisting the reception, transmission and processing of data in the electronic money transfer of banks or mandated by banks.

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7. Payment guarantee account is an account paid in Vietnam dong opened in commercial banks of providers of intermediary payment services to ensure the provision of intermediary payment services.

8. Payment acceptance unit is an organization or individual providing goods, services and accepting the payment through one or some intermediary payment services.

Chapter II

LICENCE OF PROVISION OF INTERMEDIARY PAYMENT SERVICES

Article 4. Granting, revoking, and re-granting licences

1. The State Bank of Vietnam (the State Bank for short) shall grant, revoke and re-grant licences of provision of intermediary payment services (the licence for short) as prescribed in the Government’s Article 15 and Article 16 of Decree No. 101/2012 / ND-CP of November 22, 2012 on non-cash payment (Decree No. 101/2012 / ND-CP for short) .

2. Non-bank organizations are qualified for applying for licences of one or some intermediary payment services as prescribed in Article 2 of this Circular on the basis of meeting the conditions prescribed in Clause 2, Article 15 of Decree No. 101/2012 / ND-CP and the provisions of facilities and technical infrastructure as follows:

a) Providers of financial switch service, electronic clearing service must have the clearing result among relevant parties produced by another organization;

b) Providers of support service of payment service for customers with accounts at many banks must connect to a providers of financial switch service and electronic clearing service.

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1. The procedures for granting, revoking and re-granting licences must comply with Article 16 of Decree No. 101/2012 / ND-CP.

2. Application for the License to provide intermediary payment services must comply with Clause 2, Article 16 of Decree No. 101/2012 / ND-CP and documentation must meet the conditions in points a and b, Clause 2, Article 4 of this Circular.

3. The written request for issuance of the License must comply with the form provided in Appendix No. 01 enclosed with this Circular.

4. Every organization granted the License to provide intermediary payment services must pay a license granting fee in accordance with the law.

Article 6. Licence use

1. The organization issued with the License must use its correct name and operate in accordance with contents specified in the license.

2. It is strictly forbidden to forge, erase, transfer, lease, lend licenses; mandate or appoint another entity as an agency to provide the licensed services.

Chapter III

PROVISION OF INTERMEDIARY PAYMENT SERVICES

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1. Providers of intermediary payment services must build and comply with internal regulations and regulations of the State Bank on the principles of risk management in electronic banking operations and the provisions of the current law on the prevention of money laundering and other provisions of related Vietnam law.

2. Providers of intermediary payment services must comply with requirements for guarantee of safety and security of information technology systems in banking operations and the provision of electronic banking services as prescribed in the State Bank.

3. Providers of intermediary payment services must comply with the provisions on the establishment, use, and archive of electronic documents as prescribed in the Law on electronic transactions in banking operations .

Article 8. Solvency guarantee

1. Providers of support services of cash collection and cash payment and providers of digital wallet service must open payment guarantee accounts to ensure the provision of these services. The balance in payment guarantee account must be maintained to be not less than the total amount of money received from customers that has not made payment to the payment acceptance units (for support services of cash collection and cash payment) or total balance of all digital wallets of the customers (for digital wallet service) at the same time.

2. The payment guarantee account may only be used to:

a) Pay to payment acceptance units;

b) Refund to customers using the services upon their request.

Article 9. Provision of Digital wallet

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a) Issue more than 01 (one) digital wallet to a payment account of a customer at a bank;

b) Extend credit to customers using digital wallets, to pay interests on the balances of digital wallets or any actions which may increase the monetary value on digital wallets.

2. Providers of digital wallet services must provide instruments for the State Bank to check, monitor in real time the total amount of money of customers on the digital wallets and the total amount of money in the accounts to ensure payments of providers of digital wallet services at the banks.

3. Money shall be deposited to and withdrawn from digital wallets through the payment accounts of customers at the banks.

Chapter IV

RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PARTIES INVOLVED

Article 10. Rights of providers of services of provision of electronic payment infrastructure

1. Define the using conditions of services; require customers to provide complete and accurate information relating to the services when using the services; refuse to provide services if the customers do not meet the conditions for using the services, or do not comply with the provisions of the providers of services or other violations of the agreement.

2. Define the safety guarantee measures for the use of the services.

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4. Select banks, and other organizations as partners to sign provision and development contracts of the services based on safety guarantee, efficiency and agreement with the content of licenses and the provisions of the law.

5. Exercise other rights under contracts with banks, customers and partners in accordance with the provisions of the law.

Article 11. Responsibilities of providers of services of provision of electronic payment infrastructure

1. Responsibilities to customers:

a) Guide customers to use the service;

b) Solve or response the complaints and verification requests of the customers;

c) Compensate customers for damage caused by technical error of system, error of disclosure of customer information and other errors of providers of services;

d) Coordinate with customers to check, control the daily transaction data;

dd) Fully provide regular and extraordinary information of transactions through the system of providers of services at the request of the customers;

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2. Providers of services of provision of electronic payment infrastructure shall coordinate with customers and partners to use measures of risk management, safety guarantee and security when using or providing services

3. Providers of services of provision of electronic payment infrastructure fulfill other resposibilities under the contracts with the banks, customers and partners.

Article 12. Rights of providers of support services of payment services

1. Define the using conditions of the services; require customers to provide complete and accurate information relating to the services and during the services; refuse or terminate provision services if the customers do not meet the using conditions of the service or do not comply with the provisions of the providers of services or breach other agreements.

2. Define safety measures for the use of the services.

3. Define fee types and levels of using the services in accordance with the current legislation.

4. Select the banks, other organizations to contract of provision and development of services based on safety guarantee, efficiency and agreement with the content of licences and the provisions of the law.

5. Exercise other rights under contracts with banks, customers and partners in accordance with the provisions of the law.

Article 13. Responsibilities of providers of support services of payment service

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a) Define and notify the terms and conditions on using of services through appropriate channels (websites of providers of services, leaflets and contract forms / registration forms of using services , etc.). The service provider shall, single-handedly or in cooperation with a bank, come to an agreement with customers of the following issues before they use the services:

- The payment methods

- Types of charge and fee

- Forms of transaction statement, notice of balance provided for customers during the services;

- Procedures for reporting of losses when using the services, complaint procedures including location, time, and ways of handling complaints;

- Refund policy including conditions, procedures, time and refund cost;

- Rights and responsibilities of the customers;

- Responsibilities of the customers in case of malfunction, losses and fraudulent transactions;

- Address, contact telephone numbers of providers of intermediary payment services;

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c) Check, authenticate, update full and accurate information of customers registering to use the services;

d) Solve or response the complaints and verification requests of the customers;

dd) Compensate customers for damage caused by technical error of system, error of disclosure customer information and other errors of providers of services;

e) Require digital wallet users to have payment accounts opened at banks before using the service and fully provide regular and unexpected information of payment transactions, balance, limit relating to the service at the request of the customers;

2. Responsibilities to banks:

a) Fully and promptly meet arisen responsibilities for the transactions using the services in agreement between the providers of intermediary payment services and the banks in accordance with the law;

b) Coordinate with the banks to check, authenticate, update full and accurate information of the customer registering for the use of the service;

c) Coordinate with the banks and the partners to check and compare the daily transaction data.

3. The service provider must reach written agreements with banks and its partners in terms of cooperation of provision of the services, require payment acceptance units to commit not to collect any other fees for customers paying through the intermediary payment services in any forms. In case the payment acceptance units do not comply with the commitments, providers of services shall terminate the contracts and require the payment acceptance units to compensate for damage to the customers or apply other appropriate measures under the terms of commitments between the parties.

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5. Fulfill other responsibilties under the contracts with the banks, customers and partners.

Article 14. Rights of banks

1. Select non-bank organizations to cooperate, technically test one or some intermediary payment services.

2. Sign contracts to use electronic payment infrastructure and / or cooperate in provision of support services of the payment services to providers of intermediary payment services.

3. Request the providers of intermediary payment services to provide essential information relating to the payment transactions through intermediary payment services.

4. Exercise other rights under contracts and agreements of provision services to providers of intermediary payment services.

Article 15. Responsibilities of banks

1. Only Cooperate intermediary payment services with the non-bank organizations licensed by the State Bank in providing intermediary payment services.

2. Coordinate with providers of intermediary payment services to check and control the daily transaction data.

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4. Manage account balances to ensure of making payments of the providers of support services of payment services in accordance with cooperation contracts signed with the providers of support services of payment services as prescribed in this Circular.

5. Coordinate with providers of intermediary payment services to check, authenticate, update full and accurate information of customers registering for use of support services of payment services.

6. Cooperate with providers of intermediary payment services in providing guidance on measures, professionally technical procedures and security in making payments through intermediary payment services for payment acceptance units and customers using intermediary payment services, compensate customers and the parties involved for damages due to banks’ failure to comply with this provision

7. Cooperate with providers of intermediary payment services in establishing procedures for resolving customers’ complaints relating to the payment transactions through intermediary payment services.

8. Fulfill other resposibilities under contracts with providers of intermediary payment services, payment acceptance units and customers.

Chapter V

REPORT, PROVISION OF INFORMATION AND HANDLING OF VIOLATIONS

Article 16. Report and provision of information

1. Providers of intermediary payment services shall submit quarterly and annual reports to the State Bank (through the Payment Department) in accordance with the contents required in Appendix No. 02 enclosed with this Circular. Deadline for submission of periodic reports is the 5^th of the first month of the following quarter (for quarterly reports) and on January 15 of the following year (for annual reports).

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a) At the specific request of the State Bank to serve the state management objectives;

b) Upon occurrence of unusual developments in the operation which may affect the operations of the providers of intermediary payment services, banks or other organizations and individuals involved ;

c) Upon occurrence of problems which disrupt the payment process through intermediary payment services.

3. Providers of intermediary payment services and banks are responsible for keeping the confidentiality of information relating to the payment transactions through intermediary payment services, the personal information of customers, payment accounts of customers. The information is only provided in the following cases:

a) At the request of the customers;

b) Under the provisions of the law.

Article 17. Actions against violations

Organizations and individuals that violate the provisions of this Circular, depending on the nature and extent of the violations, shall face administrative penalties or criminal prosecution if the violations are serious; If damage is caused, compensation must be paid as prescribed in law.

Chapter VI

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Article 18. Payment Department

1. Be the focal point of receipt and coordinate with the relevant units to verify application for licenses.

2. Consider and submit application to the related Departments and Agencies belonging to the State Bank to consult ideas within 15 working days after receiving the regular dossiers in accordance with the provisions of Clause 2, Article 16 of Decree No. 101/2012 / ND-CP,

3. Summarize opinions from the relevant units, verify applications and report to the Governor of the State Bank for decision on granting the lisenses or reject the applications.

4. Be the focal point to report to the Governor of the State Bank on handling issues relating to granting, withdrawing and regranting licenses.

5. Be the focal point of receiving reports on the implementation of the intermediary payment services of providers of the intermediary payment services and banks.

6. Monitor and be focal point of giving advises to the Governor of the State Bank in the management and supervision of the provision of intermediary payment services of providers of intermediary payment services.

Article 19. Information Technology Department

1. Within 15 working days from the receipt of the written request of the Payment Department, inspect, evaluate and send reports to the Payment Department for confirming technical conditions, technological solutions, the ability of security safety, technical staff ensuring the implementation of intermediary payment services of organizations applying for licenses.

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Article 20. Bank supervision and inspection agencies

Inspect and supervise organizations and individuals involved in the implementation of this Circular.

Chapter VII

IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

Article 21. Effect

This circular takes effect on March 1, 2015

Article 22. Transitional provisions

Since this Circular takes effect, the non-bank organizations permitted by the State Bank to make pilot provision of one or more intermediary payment services as prescribed in Article 2 of this Circular shall complete the procedures and send applications for licences under the provisions of Article 5 of this Circular to the State Bank for consideration of licensing.

After 09 months since this Circular takes effect, the State Bank’s written permission for non-bank organizations to provide pilot provision of payment services and intermediary payment services will expire.

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Chief of Office, Directors of Payment Department and Heads of units belonging to the State Bank; Directors of State Bank branches in centrally-affiliated cities and provinces, Chairman of the Board of Directors (member Board), General Directors (Directors) of the providers of payment services, providers of intermediary payment services shall be responsible for the implementation of this Circular.

PP.GOVERNOR
DEPUTY GOVERNOR




Nguyen Hoang Thang