Circular No. 29/2026/TT-NHNN on amendments to some articles of Circular No. 39/2016/TT-NHNN prescribing lending transactions of credit institutions and/or foreign bank branches with customers

CIRCULAR

AMENDMENTS TO SOME ARTICLES OF CIRCULAR NO. 39/2016/TT-NHNN PRESCRIBING LENDING TRANSACTIONS OF CREDIT INSTITUTIONS AND/OR FOREIGN BANK BRANCHES WITH CUSTOMERS

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

Pursuant to the Law on Credit Institutions No. 32/2024/QH15 amended by the Law No. 96/2025/QH15;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 26/2025/ND-CP on functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the State Bank of Vietnam;

At request of the Director of the Monetary Policy Department;

The Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam hereby promulgates a Circular on amendments to Circular No. 39/2016/TT-NHNN on lending transactions of credit institutions and/or foreign bank branches with customers.

Article 1. Addition of clause 3 after clause 2 Article 1 of the Circular No. 39/2016/TT-NHNN

“3. Lending transactions specified in the plan for restructuring a credit institution placed under special control approved by the competent authority shall be conducted in accordance with the restructuring plan approved by the competent authority.”.

Article 2. Amendments to clause 13 Article 2 of the Circular No. 39/2016/TT-NHNN amended by point b clause 1 Article 1 of the Circular No. 12/2024/TT-NHNN

“13. “small-value loan” means a loan which is given as prescribed in clause 2 Article 102 of the Law on Credit Institutions and does not exceed VND 200.000.000 (two hundred million) at people’s credit funds, or 400.000.000 (four hundred million) at other credit institutions.”.

Article 3. Amendments to point b clause 6 Article 8 of the Circular No. 39/2016/TT-NHNN amended by point b clause 2 Article 1 of the Circular No. 06/2023/TT-NHNN

“b) Be a loan that has not been granted any deferral of part or all of the principal and/or interest of the agreed term (including a case where there is no change to the number of agreed repayment periods) without any change to the loan term; a loan that has not been granted any deferral of the principal and/or interest for a period exceeding the agreed loan term.”.

Article 4. Amendments to clause 4 Article 18 of the Circular No. 39/2016/TT-NHNN

“4. The credit institution and its customer must agree on the priority order for collection of principal and interest amounts. In case of overdue debts, the credit institution shall prioritize collection of principal over interest.”

Article 5. Addition of point h after point g clause 2 Article 22 of the Circular No. 39/2016/TT-NHNN

“h) In case of digital lending, the credit institution shall prescribe customer credit limit according to regulations of the Law on Credit Institutions, this Circular and relevant laws.”.

Article 6. Amendments to point a clause 1 Article 23 of the Circular No. 39/2016/TT-NHNN

a) Information on lending credit institutions and customer performing a borrowing transaction;”.

Article 7. Amendments to point a clause 1 and clause 2 Article 32b of the Circular No. 39/2016/TT-NHNN amended by clause 11 Article 1 of the Circular No. 06/2023/TT-NHNN

1. Point a clause 1 shall be amended as follows:

“a) The credit institution shall carry out customer identification and verify customer identification information according to regulations of the State Bank of Viet Nam on opening and use of payment accounts at payment service providers;”.

2. Clause 2 shall be amended as follows:

“2. Customer identification and verification of customer identification information in clause 1 of this Article shall apply to customers who start a relationship with the credit institution. If a customer has established a relationship with the credit institution and completed procedures for customer identification and verification of customer identification information, the credit institution shall be entitled to decide measures, forms and/or technologies employed for verifying that customer’s identification information to serve the digital lending which should match the known information about that customer.”.

Article 8. Annulment of Article 32c and Article 32h of the Circular No. 39/2016/TT-NHNN amended by clause 11 Article 1 of the Circular No. 06/2023/TT-NHNN

Article 9. Implementation clauses

1. This Circular takes effect from August 15, 2026.

2. The following regulations shall be annulled:

a) Clause 5 Article 1 of the Circular No. 06/2023/TT-NHNN;

b) Point b clause 1 Article 1 of the Circular No. 12/2024/TT-NHNN.

Article 10. Transitional clauses

With respect to a loan agreement or credit contract signed prior to the effective date of this Circular, the credit institution and its customer shall continue complying with terms and conditions of the loan agreement or credit contract signed in accordance with regulations and laws in force at the date of signature of that loan agreement or credit contract. Any revisions to the signed loan agreement or credit contract must comply with regulations of this Circular./.

Article 11. Responsibilities for organizing implementation

Heads of units affiliated to the State Bank of Viet Nam, credit institutions, and foreign bank branches shall be responsible for organizing the implementation of this Circular./.