Information of customers of credit institutions and foreign bank branches would be more secure if a draft decree recently proposed by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to replace Decree No. 70 issued in 2000 is approved.
As prescribed in Decree No. 70, only information on money and property deposited by customers at credit institutions and foreign bank branches are subject to confidentiality.
 |
| Information provided by customers to banks and information related to the use of services provided by banks to customers would be kept secret__Photo: Internet |
Meanwhile, the draft decree proposes requiring banks to keep secret more information of their customers, including information provided by customers to banks and information related to the use of services provided by banks to customers such as account, deposited money amount, deposited property and other transaction details.
Such information would be listed as state secrets in the banking sector, and managed, used, archived and protected under the Law on Protection of State Secrets.
The draft decree says that banks are only allowed to provide information of their customers at the request of such customers themselves or their authorized persons, guardians or heirs in case they lose their civil act capacity, are missing or die; court judgment creditors as defined in the Law on Enforcement of Civil Judgments; state agencies while performing their assigned tasks; specialized bodies of the Ministry of Public Security; deposit insurers defined in the Law on Deposit Insurance; and other international organizations as specified by law.
Upon detecting that banks disclose their customers’ information to any third parties, such customers would have the right to file a complaint or lawsuit against the banks and be compensated for damage caused by the disallowed disclosure.
Commenting on the draft, banking experts propose the drafter to require banks to keep confidential also financial information of their customers obtained by them during the appraisal process for lending, or information about customers’ purchase and sale of foreign currencies.
The draft decree is now available for public comment at sbv.gov.vn.- (VLLF)
