Foreign borrowing conditions for private companies in Vietnam

Under Circular 12/2014 of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), a private company including foreign-invested companies in Vietnam can only borrow from a foreign lender if it satisfies the following requirements, among others:

  • A foreign loan can only be used to (1) implement an investment project of the borrower or of a company in which the borrower has “direct investment” capital; or (2) refinance existing foreign loans without increasing borrowing costs. (1) is a positive development as it allows the borrower to use a foreign loan proceed to make capital contribution or, even possibly, on-lend to another company. (2) seems to be more restrictive than earlier regulations and may make it more difficult for a Vietnamese company to restructure its foreign debt;
  •  A foreign loan with a term of no more than 1 year is considered as a short term loan. A short term foreign loan must not be used for medium or long term use. In practice, a short term foreign loan is not required to be registered with the SBV. However it must be made in writing before draw down;
  • The repayment and disbursement of a foreign loan of Vietnamese borrower being a foreign invested enterprise must be made through a foreign direct investment account in foreign currency opened by such borrower with a licensed bank in Vietnam. The bank will check all supporting documents before making any repayment to foreign lenders;
  • A medium and long term loan together with all other outstanding  long and medium term loans of must not exceed the difference between the total investment capital and the equity capital of the investment project as recorded in the relevant investment certificate. However, a short term loan is not subject to this restriction. This is a positive development as under old regulations a short term loan is also subject to the same funding limit except in limited circumstance;
  •  A medium and long term foreign loan must be registered with the SBV within 30 working days from the signing date of the loan agreement and before disbursement;
  • A foreign loan must be made in foreign currencies except for loans given to micro finance organisations, loans between the foreign investor in a foreign-invested company and such foreign-invested company; or loans approved the SBV; and
  • A foreign loan secured by shares or capital contribution or convertible bonds issued by a Vietnamese issuer must comply with the relevant foreign ownership limits. It is not clear if this means that the parties need to comply with the relevant foreign ownership limits at the time of taking or enforcing the relevant securities.  
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New Circular on foreign currency borrowing from Vietnamese banks for 2019

On 28 December 2018, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) issued Circular 42 amending current foreign currency borrowing regulations (in Circular 24 of the SBV dated 8 December 2015, as amended from time to time (Circular 24/2015)) (Circular 42/2018). Circular 42/2018 will take effect from 1 January 2019.

Changes to permitted lending purpose

Vietnamese banks only lend in foreign currency for a few limited purposes. Circular 42/2018 has following changes to these purposes:

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A new Circular on registration of mortgages and other secured transactions in Vietnam

On 20 June 2018, the Ministry of Justice issued Circular 8 on the registration and provision of information on security interest and contracts (Circular 8/2018). Circular 8/2018 will replace Circular 5/2011 on the same subject from 4 August 2018.

Name of the object of the registration

The object of registration under Circular 5/2011 is secured transactions (giao dịch bảo đảm), which is in line with the Civil Code 2005. However, the term “secured transaction” is almost removed from the Civil Code 2015 and the registration is now the registration of security interest (biện pháp bảo đảm). Circular 8/2018 adopts such approach and determined the object of registration is security interest to be consistent with the new Civil Code 2015.

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Proposed amendments to the Vietnamese Securities Law 2006

The Ministry of Finance has released a latest draft amendment to the Securities Law 2006 (https://tinyurl.com/ydc44zyd), which is scheduled to be passed in the second half of 2019. It looks like that any major law in Vietnam will need to undergo major changes in every 10 years whether or not the changes are necessary. The draft amendments include the following major changes regarding capital raising process:

New Decree on private issuance of corporate bonds by Vietnamese companies

In December 2018, the Government issues Decree 163/2018 to replace Decree 90/2011 on private issuance of corporate by Vietnamese companies from February 2019. Decree 163/2018 introduces certain new important points as follows:

·        To be able issue bonds, a company is no longer required to be profitable in year before the proposed issuance. Instead, the company only needs to operate for at least one year and its financial statement is audited by a qualified auditor. Issuer who has undergone certain restructuring (e.g., merger, conversion or division) may rely on the historical operation of other related companies to meet the one year operating test;

·        Secondary trading of privately-issued bonds is limited within up to 100 investors excluding “professional investors” within one year from the issuance date. The new limitation seems to aim at the practice of issuing bonds privately at the first place and reselling the same to public investors in secondary market;

Definition of a finance lease under Vietnamese law

Vietnamese banking regulations do not provide for a clear definition of a financial lease (cho thuê tài chính). The lack of a clear definition may result in unnecessary legal risks for parties to a cross-border lease transaction (e.g., an aircraft lease). For example, if a cross-border lease is regarded as a financial lease, then the lease may need to be registered with the State Bank of Vietnam as a foreign loan.

Under the Law on Credit Institution 2010, the act of finance leasing is defined to be (1) the extension of medium and long-term credit; (2) on the basis of a finance leasing contract; and(3) satisfying one of the following conditions:

  • upon expiry of the lease under the contract, the lessee may take over ownership of leased assets or may continue to lease them under the agreement of the parties; or

  • upon expiry of the lease under the contract, the lessee shall have the priority right to purchase the leased assets at a nominal value less than the actual value of the leased assets as at the date of purchase; or

  • the minimum term of the lease of any single asset must equal at least 60% of the period necessary for depreciation of such leased asset; or

  • the total rent for any single asset stipulated in the finance lease contract must be equal at least to the value of such asset at the signing date of the contract.


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Written by Nguyen Quang Vu On In