Applying deposit interest rates that are not listed will be fined up to 40 million VND

The Government issued Decree No. 340/2025/ND-CP regulating administrative sanctions in the field of currency and banking, effective from February 9, 2026.

The Decree stipulates warning penalties for the following acts: Buying and selling foreign currency between individuals, buying and selling foreign currency at organizations is not allowed to be exchanged for foreign currency but foreign currency is bought and sold with a value of less than 1,000 USD.

The same behavior for foreign currency that is bought or sold for a value of 1,000 to under 10,000 USD will be fined from 10-20 million VND; for a value of 10,000 to under 100,000 USD, it will be fined from 20-30 million VND; for a value of 100,000 USD or more, it will be fined from 80-100 million VND.

Fines from 200-250 million VND for one of the following violations: Buying or holding shares of another credit institution not in accordance with conditions, exceeding the limit prescribed by the State Bank; contributing capital, buying or receiving shares transferred by a credit institution not in accordance with regulations.

Regarding receiving deposits, the Decree stipulates that the fine for violations of regulations on receiving deposits is from 20-150 million VND. In particular, the act of receiving deposits and paying deposits not in accordance with legal procedures will be fined 20-40 million VND; the act of receiving deposits not to the right subjects according to legal regulations will be fined 100-150 million VND.

Fines of 10-20 million VND for the act of posting capital mobilization interest rates, unclear service provision fees, causing confusion for customers. For the act of applying capital mobilization interest rates and service provision fees that are not in accordance with the listed rates, the fine is 20-40 million VND.

For violations of regulations on the purchase and sale of corporate bonds, the Decree stipulates a fine of 15-30 million VND for failure to monitor and supervise the use of proceeds from the issuance of corporate bonds.

The act of not using non-cash payment services when making payments in the purchase and sale of bonds will be fined from 30-50 million VND.

Fine from 100-150 million VND for one of the following violations:

- Not appraising corporate bonds to consider the decision to buy corporate bonds;

- Buying issuing corporate bonds, including the purpose of: restructuring debts of issuing enterprises; contributing capital, purchasing shares in other enterprises; increasing the scale of operating capital;

- Foreign bank branches buy converted bonds, bonds with certificates;

- Selling corporate bonds to its own subsidiaries, except in cases where a credit institution is the party receiving the compulsory transfer and sells corporate bonds to a commercial bank that is subject to compulsory transfer;

- Buying corporate bonds that the issuing enterprise has changed the purpose of using the proceeds from the issuance of bonds according to the provisions of law before the time the credit institution bought the bond, but the bond issuing enterprise was not rated at the highest level according to the regulations on internal credit rating of the credit institution at the most recent time.

The Decree clearly states that the fine level prescribed above is the fine level applied to individuals; the fine level applied to organizations committing the same administrative violation is twice the fine level applied to individuals.

Read the original here