Validity of a contract denominated in US$ and settled in VND

According to newspaper report, in June 2015, a district court in Hanoi has just held that an apartment sale and purchase contract the price of which is denominated in USD but settled in VND is not invalid. Instead, the price of such contract will be converted into VND at the exchange rate of the signing date of such contract. This is just a first instance judgment which can be changed or cancelled by higher courts. However, this decision has helped to clarify the long-term uncertainty about the validity of a contract denominated in US$ but settled in VND.

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Bond trustees in Vietnam

In other markets, a bond trustee acting for the benefits the bondholders is intended to make it easier for numerous bondholders to take collective action against the bond issuer especially in case of default by the bond issuer. In the U.S, a bond trustee is subject to duties under the Trustee Indenture Act of 1939.

In Vietnam, a representative of bondholders (đại diện người sở hữu trái phiếu) is the nearest concept to bond trustee in other markets. However, there are only a few provisions under Vietnamese law about a representative of bondholders:

A New Decree on Derivatives in Vietnam

Decree 42/2015 is an entirely new decree governing “derivative securities” (chứng khoán phái sinh) and will take effect from July 2015. A quick read of Decree 42/2015 seems to indicate that Decree 42/2015 is intended to provide a legal framework for a regulated market for derivatives in Vietnam. In particular, Decree 42/2015 provides detailed requirements for:

Conditions for new foreign investor in Vietnamese insurance companies

The table below summaries the key conditions that a new foreign institutional investor may need to satisfy when investing in an existing insurance company in Vietnam. The target insurance company can be either a joint stock company (JSC) or a limited liability company (LLC). The investment could either be acquisition of new shares issued by the target or of existing share held by existing owners. Except in case of acquiring less than 10% existing shares, in all cases, an approval from the Ministry of Finance is required.

Vietnam Business Law