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Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Thi Hong reports on the draft Law on Anti-Money Laundering. Photo: Quochoi.vn

Continuing the program of the 4th session of the 15th National Assembly, on the afternoon of October 20, 2022, Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Nguyen Thi Hong, authorized by the Prime Minister, presented a report on the draft Law on Anti-Money Laundering (Revised).

Governor Nguyen Thi Hong said that in addition to inheriting existing provisions, the revised Law on Anti-Money Laundering must remove shortcomings in the provisions of the current law and meet practical requirements in anti-money laundering activities.

Therefore, the draft Law inherits the provisions on the report on anti-money laundering in the Law on anti-money laundering in 2012, including financial institutions and non-financial and organizations and individuals. In addition, to meet the reality of exchanging and providing information on the prevention and combat of money laundering, the draft Law also adds the principle: if there is no international treaty or agreement between Vietnam and a foreign country on the prevention and combat of money laundering, the exchange and transfer of information in international cooperation on anti-money laundering shall be carried out on the principle of reciprocity but not contrary to Vietnamese law and comply with international law and customs.

The Draft Law also adds provisions on assessing and updating national risks on money laundering. Accordingly, every five years, the SBV shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with concerned ministries and agencies to evaluate the national risk of money laundering in Vietnam, and submit to the Government for approval the assessment results and the implementation plan after assessment.

Presenting the report on the verification of the draft Law on Anti-Money Laundering (revised), Mr. Vu Hong Thanh said that the Economic Committee agreed on the need to revise the Law on Anti-Money Laundering in 2012; the contents of the draft law are consistent with the provisions of the 2013 Constitution and are compatible with relevant international treaties.

However, the Economic Committee suggested continuing to carefully review the contents of regulations related to the application of information technology in data collection and verification of customers with relevant laws, such as the Law on Cybersecurity and the draft Law on Electronic Transactions (amended) which are expected to be submitted to the National Assembly for consideration at the 4th session and approval at the 5th session of 15th National Assembly.

Improving the legal system on anti-money laundering. Photo: Internet

Regarding the content of the assessment of money laundering risk of the report and classification of customers according to the level of risk of money laundering, Mr. Vu Hong Thanh said that this is a new regulation that is necessary amid the increasingly sophisticated and changeable money laundering activities and comply with the recommendations of international organizations.

However, he suggested continuing to review and carefully consider the regulations on reporting risk assessment results or updating the results of risk assessment on money laundering, ensuring feasibility and avoiding creating burdens about administrative procedures on performers.

For some specific suspicious signs, the Economic Committee proposed that the drafting agency continue to carefully review the basic suspicious signs and classify them in accordance with the activities of financial institutions non-financial organizations and individuals. In particular, in the field of securities, there should be a specific time limit when identifying suspicious signs.

Regarding the responsibilities of some agencies, the Economic Committee proposed to supplement regulations on the responsibilities of the Government Inspector because this is the agency in charge of performing the state management function on inspection and settlement of complaints, denunciations on anti-corruption; add the responsibilities of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in relation to the prevention and combat of money laundering in the field of land and real estate.

Regarding the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance, according to Mr. Vu Hong Thanh, there are suggestions to clarify the regulations on "other services" associated with the manager as the Ministry of Finance or associated with the activity of "reward games", because if the regulations on “other services” are associated with the activity of "reward games except for games on telecommunications networks, internet and other services", it is necessary to determine which agencies or ministries shall be in charge of managing the content of “other services” to ensure the transparency and clarity in the implementation process, avoiding overlaps or omissions. In addition, it is suggested to consider the specific responsibilities of Customs in this content.

In fact, in February 2012, the SBV and the Ministry of Finance signed a Regulation on cooperation in work performance and information exchange, including the content of the exchange of information on anti-money laundering.

In Decision 941/QD-TTg dated August 5, 2022 of the Prime Minister on promulgating the National Action Plan on prevention and combat of money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing of destructive weapons for the 2021-2025 period, the Prime Minister requested the SBV and the Ministry of Finance to develop a Memorandum of Understanding/Principles between the Banking Inspection and Supervision Agency and the General Department of Customs.

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Therefore, the Anti-Money Laundering Department (Banking Supervision and Inspection Agency) and the Anti-Smuggling and Investigation Department, the General Department of Customs have actively cooperated with each other in exchanging information. Thanks to information provided by the Banking Inspection and Supervision Agency, the Customs has investigated and dismantled many cases and prosecuted cases.