Why must money transfers of 500 million VND or more be reported?

(Dan Tri) - The regulation on high-value transactions that must be reported has been maintained by the State Bank for many years and continuously adjusted to improve the effectiveness of anti-money laundering work.

In Circular 27/2025 guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering, which has just been issued, the State Bank requires domestic money transfer transactions of VND 500 million or more or foreign currency of equivalent value to be reported to the Anti-Money Laundering Department.

In addition, money transfer transactions involving organizations outside of Vietnam with a value of 1,000 USD or more are also subject to reporting.

The report must include complete information about the initiating and beneficiary organizations, the sender and the recipient, and details of the account number, amount, currency, purpose and date of the transaction. The information must be submitted electronically, ensuring accuracy and timeliness as required by the regulatory agency.

In fact, regulations on reportable transaction thresholds have been stipulated for many years in legal documents and have been continuously adjusted to suit practice.

Bank employees stack money at a branch in Hanoi (Photo: Manh Quan).

In 2005, the Government issued Decree 74 - the first legal document on anti-money laundering, which defined the responsibility to report large-value transactions, while the specific level was assigned to the State Bank to regulate. Subsequently, Decision 20/2007 of the State Bank set the reporting threshold from 200 million VND or more.

When the Law on Anti-Money Laundering 2012 took effect, the Government issued Decree 116/2013 and the State Bank issued Circular 35/2013, raising the reporting threshold from 300 million VND.

To date, the 2022 Law on Anti-Money Laundering and its implementing documents have updated and completed the legal framework, in which Decision 11/2023 stipulates that transactions with a value of VND 400 million or more must be reported. In parallel, Circular 09/2023 also sets a separate threshold for electronic money transfer transactions: from VND 500 million for domestic transactions and from USD 1,000 or equivalent for international transactions.

The latest Circular No. 27 is built on the basis of inheriting the relevant regulations in Circular No. 09/2023 and amending and supplementing a number of contents to remove the main difficulties and obstacles of reporting subjects and management agencies during the implementation process.

According to the State Bank, the decision is aimed at providing detailed guidance on the level of large-value transactions that must be reported according to regulations, contributing to improving the effectiveness of anti-money laundering work; in accordance with international requirements and standards on anti-money laundering that Vietnam is obliged to implement; improving the effectiveness of the fight against money laundering and crime prevention.

The Circular takes effect from November 1. However, to give organizations time to prepare for implementation, the State Bank has issued transitional regulations. Accordingly, by December 31, reporting entities will continue to implement internal regulations and risk management procedures according to the current mechanism.

From January 1, 2026, reporting entities are responsible for completing the following tasks: Adjusting and updating internal regulations and risk management processes, and having a software system to scan and filter blacklists, warning lists, lists of politically influential individuals, and monitoring transactions to detect and warn of suspicious signs appropriate for the purpose of preventing and combating money laundering, terrorist financing, and financing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/kinh-doanh/vi-sao-chuyen-tien-tu-500-trieu-dong-phai-bao-cao-20250920232145299.htm