Circular No. 21/2020/TT-NHNN amending and supplementing certain Articles of Circular No. 37/2016/TT-NHNN dated December 30, 2016 of the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam on the management, operation, and use of the National Interbank Electronic Payment System

CIRCULAR

Amending and supplementing some articles of Circular No. 37/2016/TT-NHNN

dated December 30, 2016, issued by the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam on the management, operation, and use of the National Interbank Electronic Payment System the management, operation, and use of the National Inter-bank Electronic Payment System

Pursuant to the Law on the State Bank of Vietnam dated June 16, 2010;

Pursuant to the Law on Credit Institutions dated June 16, 2010 and the Law Amending and Supplementing Certain Articles of the Law on Credit Institutions dated November 20, 2017;

Pursuant to the Law on Electronic Transactions dated November 29, 2005;

Pursuant to Decree No. 130/2018/ND-CP dated September 27, 2018 of the Government detailing the implementation of the Electronic Transactions Law regarding digital signatures and digital signature certification services;

Pursuant to Decree No. 35/2007/NĐ-CP dated March 8, 2007, of the Government on electronic transactions in banking activities;

Pursuant to Decree No. 101/2012/NĐ-CP dated November 22, 2012, of the Government on non-cash payments; Decree No. 80/2016/NĐ-CP dated July 1, 2016, of the Government amending and supplementing some articles of Decree No. 101/2012/NĐ-CP;

Pursuant to Decree No. 16/2019/NĐ-CP dated February 1, 2019, of the Government amending and supplementing some articles of decrees stipulating business conditions within the jurisdiction of the State Bank of Vietnam;

Pursuant to Government Decree No. 16/2017/NĐ-CP dated February 17, 2017 on the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the State Bank of Vietnam;

At the proposal of the Director of the Department of Information Technology;

The Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam issues this Circular to amend and supplement some articles of Circular No. 37/2016/TT-NHNN dated December 30, 2016, issued by the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam on the management, operation, and use of the National Interbank Electronic Payment System (referred to as Circular No. 37/2016/TT-NHNN).

Article 1.Amending and supplementing some articles of Circular No. 37/2016/TT-NHNN dated December 30, 2016, issued by the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam on the management, operation, and use of the National Interbank Electronic Payment System

1. Clause 2 of Article 1 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

“2. The objects subject to application:

Are members, member units, indirect members of the National Interbank Electronic Payment System, units operating the National Interbank Electronic Payment System, organizations responsible for electronic settlement systems, and related units of the State Bank of Vietnam.”

2. Clause 35 shall be added to Article 2 as follows:

“35. An organization responsible for the electronic settlement system (hereinafter referred to as the organization responsible for electronic settlement) is an intermediary payment service provider licensed by the State Bank of Vietnam to provide financial switching services, electronic settlement services, and directly participate and connect to the National Interbank Electronic Payment System to perform electronic settlement reconciliation.”

3. Clause 1 of Article 9 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

“1. The time points applicable in the National Interbank Electronic Payment System are specified as follows:

a) The time point when the National Interbank Electronic Payment System starts receiving High Value Payment Orders, Low Value Payment Orders, and net settlement results from other systems: 8:00 AM on working days;

b) The time point when the National Interbank Electronic Payment System starts receiving Foreign Currency Payment Orders: 9:00 AM on working days;

c) The time point when the receipt of Low Value Payment Orders and requests for processing net settlement results from other systems stops: 4:30 PM on regular working days, 5:00 PM on the last two working days of the month;

d) The time point when the receipt of High Value Payment Orders and Foreign Currency Payment Orders stops: 5:00 PM on regular working days, 5:45 PM on the last two working days of the month;

e) The time point when the completion of processing all Payment Orders received in the settlement queue (if any) is completed: up to 30 minutes from the time the National Interbank Electronic Payment System stops receiving Payment Orders;

f) The time point when end-of-day tasks (checking reconciliation conditions, performing reconciliation, confirming data with the National Processing Center) are carried out: immediately after the time point specified in point d of this clause.”

4. Point a of Clause 1 of Article 10 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

“a) In case of work requirements, errors occur at the National Processing Center of the National Interbank Electronic Payment System due to insufficient balances of members or other reasons from the State Bank of Vietnam;”

5. Clause 1 Article 15 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

“1. The backup National Processing Center operates to replace the National Processing Center when the National Processing Center encounters technical issues preventing normal operation or during planned transitions to ensure the operational readiness of the National Interbank Electronic Payment System.”

6. Article 25 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

“ Article 25. Processing Results of Net Settlement from Other Systems

1. The TTLNH system is permitted to receive and process net settlement results from the Automatic Clearing House (ACH) system, the Card Clearing System, and other payment clearing systems.

2. The processing of net settlement results shall be carried out through batch processing (batch settlement) based on sufficient account balances of participating members. In cases where the settlement accounts of participants do not have sufficient balances, the provisions for electronic clearing operations as stipulated in the Circular guiding payment intermediary services of the State Bank shall apply.

3. When there is a need for batch settlement, the organization responsible for BTĐT creates (prepares) a structured batch settlement request with data format prescribed by the State Bank (Form TTLNH-30), signs it electronically, and sends it to the National Processing Center for processing.

4. The organization responsible for BTĐT is permitted to cancel a batch settlement that has been sent to the National Processing Center but has not yet succeeded, to manage priority order and align with the balance status of participating members.

5. Once the batch settlement is processed and successfully recorded at the National Processing Center, the TTLNH system automatically generates and sends batch settlement transactions to participating members and units. Members and participating units receive, monitor, print batch settlement transactions, and record them according to current laws.

6. After the completion of the reconciliation process by the TTLNH system, relevant units must print and reconcile daily batch settlement data to ensure consistency within the system. Specifically:

a) For Trading Departments:

- Reconciliation statement of batch settlement results received from the National Processing Center (Form TTLNH-31);

- Batch settlement reconciliation report (Form TTLNH-32).

b) For the organization responsible for BTĐT:

- Summary table of batch settlement results sent to the National Processing Center (Form TTLNH-33);

- Reconciliation statement of batch settlement results received from the National Processing Center (Form TTLNH-31).

c) For participating members and units involved in batch settlements:

- Reconciliation statement of batch settlement results (Form TTLNH-34).

7. Handling errors in batch settlement reports.

If there are discrepancies in batch settlement reports or reconciliations, relevant units must contact the TTLNH System Operation Unit to cooperate in resolving the issues.

8. To utilize the net settlement service for other systems, the organization responsible for BTĐT must meet the following requirements:

a) Submit a registration form for using the net settlement service (Form TTLNH-29) via computer network or submit directly or by mail to the State Bank (the TTLNH System Operation Unit).

b) Human resource requirements:

- At least two operational staff members who have been certified or confirmed by the State Bank to have completed training on business processing procedures and TTLNH system operation procedures;

- Staff members responsible for transmitting and receiving settlement data, approving batch settlements must have electronic signatures issued by the State Bank in accordance with the Circular on the management and use of digital signatures, digital certificates, and digital signature certification services of the State Bank.

c) Technical requirements:

- Have primary and backup systems for software and databases;

- At least one main connection and one independent backup connection for infrastructure cable transmission to connect to the TTLNH system;

- At least two activated electronic signatures (one communication electronic signature and one approver electronic signature).

d) Participating settlement members must be TTLNH system members;

đ) Provide a pre-agreement document submitted to the State Bank (the TTLNH System Operation Unit) regarding the performance of settlement obligations between the organization responsible for BTĐT and participating settlement members. This agreement must include indefinite and irrevocable authorization for the State Bank (Trading Department) to proactively deduct (record Debit) from their settlement accounts and handle escrow accounts (when setting up BTĐT limits) to perform net settlement or share risk in case a settlement member fails to repay a loan due to insufficient funds for net settlement as stipulated in the Circular guiding payment intermediary services of the State Bank.

e) Provide confirmation from the Trading Department that the TTLNH system member has established an escrow account to set up electronic clearing limits in accordance with the current Circular guiding payment intermediary services of the State Bank.

9. When there is a change in TTLNH system members participating in net settlement services from other systems, the organization responsible for BTĐT submits a registration form for changes in participating members (Form TTLNH-35) via computer network or submit directly or by mail to the State Bank (the TTLNH System Operation Unit).

10. When there is no longer a need to use the TTLNH system's net settlement service, the organization responsible for BTĐT submits a request to cease using the net settlement service (Form TTLNH-36) via computer network or submit directly or by mail to the State Bank (the TTLNH System Operation Unit).

11. The TTLNH system operation unit shall publish changes in the organization responsible for BTĐT and TTLNH system members participating in net settlement services from other systems on the State Bank’s official website.

7. Clause 4 of Article 27 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"4. For net settlement results from other systems processed in accordance with Clause 2 of Article 25 of this Circular."

8. Point c of Clause 2 of Article 28 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"c) In cases where measures specified in points a and b of this Clause are still insufficient to recover overdue payment settlement loans, the Trading Department will distribute the remaining debt among the remaining participating settlement members in the settlement session (excluding the Government Treasury) and notify each member of the allocated amount. The amount to be shared by each remaining settlement participant is determined by the formula:"

The amount to be shared of member number

Where:

A: The total amount to be shared for the overdue settlement payment loan balance remaining among members.

B: The average lower value amount that member i must pay in 20 working days from the date the settlement payment loan capital arises and prior to that date.

C: The total average lower value amount that participating members must pay in 20 working days from the date the settlement payment loan capital arises and prior to that date.

n: Is the total number of members to share.

i: Has a value from 1 to n.

In the case where a new member has not participated in using the Low Value Payment Order System (TTLNH) for at least 20 working days, it will be based on the number of working days of that member on the TTLNH system.

9. Point a Clause 1 Article 39 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“a) Banks, foreign bank branches, State Treasury when having the need to participate in the TTLNH System shall submit the registration participation document (Form TTLNH-01) through the computer network or directly submit or send by post to the State Bank (the System Operator).

10. Point d Clause 1 and Clause 4 Article 40 are amended and supplemented as follows:

“d) Technical requirements:

- Have primary and backup systems for software and databases;

- At least one main connection and one independent backup connection for infrastructure cable transmission to connect to the TTLNH system;

- Having at least 02 successfully activated Digital Signatures (01 Communication Digital Signature and 01 Signatory Approval Digital Signature);

“4. Before using the TTLNH System service, member units under the State Bank, banks, foreign bank branches, State Treasury shall submit through the computer network or directly submit or send by post to the State Bank (the System Operator):

a) Document (except for member units under the State Bank) regarding the pledge, deposit securities or deposit cash to establish net debit cap in TTLNH with confirmation from the Trading Center in the case of registering to use the Low Value Payment Order sending service;

b) Power of attorney contract or pre-agreement document meeting the requirements stipulated in Clause 3 Article 5 of this Circular regarding debt repayment between members in the case of registering to use the Debt Payment Order sending service;

c) Supplementary registration document for using the TTLNH System service for members, sub-member units (Form TTLNH-26) in the case of supplementing the use of the TTLNH System service.”

11. Add Clause 5 to Article 40 as follows:

“5. The System Operator shall publish on the State Bank’s electronic portal any changes in the service usage information of members, sub-member units in the TTLNH System.”

12. Clause 1 Article 41 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“1. When there is a need to stop one or more Order Sending services, banks, foreign bank branches, State Treasury shall submit through the computer network or directly submit or send by post to the State Bank (the System Operator) the Order Sending service cessation registration document (Form TTLNH-27).”

13. Clause 1 Article 42 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“1. Members complete their obligation to repay debts arising from settlement payments (if any) in the process of participating in the TTLNH System, annual fees and transaction fees (if any), and submit the withdrawal from the system document (Form TTLNH-02) through the computer network or directly submit or send by post to the State Bank (the System Operator).”

14. Add Clause 3a to Article 42 as follows:

“3a. The System Operator, upon receiving the request to withdraw from the TTLNH System, shall temporarily suspend the Order Sending service of the member, sub-member unit according to the request, and simultaneously send a document to the Trading Center or the State Bank branch in the province/city where the member, sub-member unit opens a settlement account to coordinate in confirming the completion of the obligation to repay debts arising from settlement payments (if any) in the process of participating in the TTLNH System, annual fees and transaction fees (if any).”

15. Add point r to Clause 2 Article 43 as follows:

“r) Notify the status received from the National Processing Center regarding the processing and accounting of Payment Orders for customers (if any).”

16. Clause 5 Article 45 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“5. Collect debts arising from settlement payments (if any) during the participation in the TTLNH System, annual fees and transaction fees (if any) of members, sub-member units within the business scope managed by the unit, and simultaneously send a confirmation document to the System Operator regarding the completion of this obligation when the member requests to withdraw from the TTLNH System.”

17. Article 46 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“Article 46. Financial and Accounting Department

Is responsible for accounting operations for member units under the State Bank of Vietnam participating in the TTLNH System.

18. Supplement Clause 5 to Article 50 as follows:

“5. Collect debts arising from settlement payments (if any) during the participation in the TTLNH System, annual fees and transaction fees (if any) of members, sub-member units within the business scope managed by the unit, and simultaneously send a confirmation document to the System Operator regarding the completion of this obligation when the member requests to withdraw from the TTLNH System.”

Article 2.

1. Replace the phrase "Information Technology Department" with "Information Technology Department" in Clauses 30 of Article 2, Clause 2 of Article 8, Clauses 3 and 4 of Article 35, Clause 1 of Article 44, and Article 48 of Circular No. 37/2016/TT-NHNN.

2. Substitute Model TTLNH-29 issued together with Circular No. 37/2016/TT-NHNN with Model TTLNH-29 issued together with this Circular.

3. Supplement Models TTLNH-30; TTLNH-31; TTLNH-32; TTLNH-33; TTLNH-34; TTLNH-35; TTLNH-36 issued together with this Circular.

Article 3. is agencies and organizations registered to participate in the System with one or more roles as follows: LIMITATION a) Report to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on the results of training and upgrading, including listing the teaching staff participating in teaching, evaluating the participation of trainees in the training process, the results of organizing examinations for completing the training and upgrading program on land valuation business, the issuance of Certificates and the use of Certificate codes, summarizing the feedback from trainees on the quality of the training and upgrading program on land valuation business, and other relevant matters.

The Head of the Office, the Director of the Information Technology Department, the Heads of units under the State Bank of Vietnam, members, and organizations primarily responsible for the electronic settlement system shall be responsible for implementing this Circular.

Article 4. Implementation Provisions

This Circular takes effect from April 1, 2021.