Consolidated Circular No. 13/VBHN-NHNN: Rules on the Operating Network of Microfinance Institutions
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The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has issued Consolidated Document No. 13/VBHN-NHNN, merging Circular 19/2025/TT-NHNN (effective September 15, 2025) with its amending Circular 64/2025/TT-NHNN (effective February 15, 2026) into a single, unified set of rules governing the operating network of microfinance institutions (MFIs) - that is, their branches, transaction offices, representative offices, support units, and transaction points. Key content includes the financial conditions an MFI must meet to open a branch or transaction office (at least 12 months of operation, a Tier 1 capital-to-total-assets ratio of at least 10 percent, bad debt capped at 3 percent); a formula that caps the number of branches and transaction offices an MFI may operate based on its actual charter capital; a three-tier approval structure (the SBV Governor, the Department of Credit Institution Supervision, and SBV Regional Branches); and tight controls on transaction points, including a cap of VND 1.5 million per customer per day on voluntary cash deposits. This document mainly affects microfinance institutions themselves - lenders that serve poor and near-poor households and micro-enterprises. General SME owners and household businesses are not directly bound by it, but should be aware of it if they borrow through a microfinance channel or partner with a local MFI, since it shapes how widely and how quickly those institutions can expand or contract their branch networks.
Overview
This is Consolidated Document No. 13/VBHN-NHNN, merging Circular No. 19/2025/TT-NHNN dated July 31, 2025 (effective September 15, 2025) with its amending Circular No. 64/2025/TT-NHNN dated December 31, 2025 (effective February 15, 2026), both issued by the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV). It sets out the full process for establishing, opening, relocating, renaming, terminating, and dissolving the operating network of microfinance institutions (MFIs), covering branches, transaction offices, representative offices, support units, and transaction points.
Scope and application
The Circular applies to microfinance institutions and to any organization or individual connected to an MFI's operating network. It governs establishment, opening, termination, and dissolution of branches, transaction offices, representative offices, and support units; changes to their name or headquarters location; notification to business registration authorities; and the opening or closing of transaction points.
Approval authority
- SBV Governor: approves branch establishment and orders mandatory termination or dissolution of branches.
- Director General of the Department of Credit Institution Supervision: approves establishment of transaction offices, representative offices, and support units.
- Directors of SBV Regional Branches: approve relocation of branch and transaction-office headquarters, and approve voluntary termination or dissolution of branches and transaction offices.
Transaction points
An MFI decides on its own whether to open or close a transaction point within the operating area of the managing branch or transaction office, but must notify the commune-level People's Committee within 5 working days. Transaction points may only perform limited functions: customer research and referral, savings-group counseling, loan-file intake, disbursement and collection on contracts already signed, and cash deposits capped at VND 1.5 million per customer per day.
Conditions and caps on the number of branches and transaction offices
An MFI must have operated for at least 12 months and must meet a Tier 1 capital-to-total-assets ratio of at least 10 percent, a bad-debt ratio no higher than 3 percent, a group-5 debt ratio no higher than 1 percent, profitable operations, and no regulatory restriction on network expansion. The permissible number of branches and transaction offices is capped by a formula tied to actual charter capital: VND 3 billion times the number of branches, plus VND 1.5 billion times the number of non-rural transaction offices, plus VND 1 billion times the number of rural transaction offices, must be less than the MFI's actual charter capital. One branch may manage no more than 5 transaction offices.
Application dossier, procedure, and timelines
A branch-establishment dossier filed with the SBV must include a request letter, a Members' Council resolution or decision, and an establishment scheme covering the organizational model, key personnel, and a 3-year business plan. The SBV confirms the dossier is complete within 7 working days, consults the provincial People's Committee and the relevant SBV Regional Branch, and must issue its approval within 35 days of confirming a valid dossier. Dossiers for transaction offices, representative offices, and support units go to the Department of Credit Institution Supervision, which must decide within 28 days for transaction offices or 20 days for representative offices and support units. Once approved, the MFI has 12 months to open operations, after which the approval automatically lapses.
Opening requirements
Before opening, a branch or transaction office must have lawful rights to its premises, a compliant vault or safe, secure information-system connectivity with headquarters, sufficient dedicated key personnel (director, accountant) who do not hold overlapping roles at another unit, and a branch and transaction-office management regulation issued by the Members' Council.
Changes, termination, and dissolution
Later chapters of the Circular (not detailed in this summary) set out procedures for renaming, relocating headquarters, changing which branch manages a transaction office, and for voluntary or mandatory termination and dissolution, together with the duty to notify the business registration authority of these changes.
Effective dates
Circular 19/2025/TT-NHNN took effect on September 15, 2025. Circular 64/2025/TT-NHNN, which amends several articles (including repealing clause 3 of Article 8 and clause 3 of Article 13, and revising Articles 11 through 17), took effect on February 15, 2026. Consolidated Document 13/VBHN-NHNN reflects the current merged text of both circulars and is not itself an independent legal instrument.