According to Circular 45, all issuing institutions must meet clients in person to verify and accurately match the biometric data of the cardholder (for individual customers) or the legal representative (for corporate customers). The circular also includes certain exemptions for institutional clients.

Issuing organizations are also required to verify that the registered phone number belongs to the cardholder (individual) or legal representative (organization) when customers sign up for banking apps or digital services.

Regarding conditions for participating in electronic transactions, Circular 45 revises Clause 6, Article 16 of Circular 18, stipulating that cards can only be used for electronic transactions after successfully verifying ID documents and biometric data with one of the following sources:

Biometric data encoded in the chip of the national ID card (CCCD), or data verified through electronic identification accounts created by the national digital ID system;

Or biometric data that has been collected and verified to ensure consistency with data stored in the chip of the ID card or with data from the Ministry of Public Security, or verified via digital ID accounts created by the national identification and authentication system;

Or biometric data collected through in-person meetings (applicable to foreigners without digital identity or individuals of Vietnamese origin whose nationality remains undetermined);

Or biometric data stored in the National Population Database (for ID cards without encrypted data storage chips).

Circular 45 also introduces a new requirement for organizations: they must provide written authorization for individuals to use the organization’s cards. The authorized individual will be designated as a supplementary cardholder.

Card acceptance devices may be installed at bank branches, transaction offices, and authorized agent locations to provide cash access to cardholders.

Regarding withdrawal limits, the circular stipulates that the maximum monthly cash withdrawal via credit card is capped at 100 million VND (approximately 4,100 USD) per cardholder, calculated by BIN.

Additionally, the regulation removes the requirement for foreign individual customers to have a minimum 12-month (360-day) residency period at the time of application. Instead, the card’s validity must not exceed the remaining permitted stay in Vietnam.

Tuan Nguyen