On 8 July 2019, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) expresses its view and recommendation to credit institutions in Vietnam (CIs) on peer-to-peer lending activities (P2P Lending). The SBV’s view is as follows:

• P2P Lending is built on a digital platform which connects borrowers and lenders without having to go through financial intermediaries (such as CIs). All lending activities will be recorded on the platform.

• The SBV acknowledges that P2P Lending is not specifically regulated by current regulations.

• Besides its potential to create additional way to mobilize capital, P2P Lending can give rise to the following risks: (1) misleading information provided by P2P Lenders about the product’s safety, (2) the lack of oversight on P2P Lending’s platform in terms of cybersecurity, (3) P2P Lenders’ using customer information for predatory lending activities, and (4) P2P Lending being considered as activities of CI.    

• If a CI enters into a co-operation agreement with P2P Lenders, the CI should request the P2P Lender to publish the content of such co-operation and to review regularly the published information to ensure such information is correct and to take appropriate action against inaccurate or insufficient information which may harm the customers.

This post is written by Nguyen Hoang Duy and edited by Nguyen Quang Vu.