Currently, for short-term loans, the law only requires the Vietnamese party and foreign lender to enter into a loan agreement and fulfill reporting obligations. However, for medium-term and long-term loans, the Vietnamese party must carry out procedures for loan registration with the State Bank.
Enterprise’s compliance with loan registration requirements will facilitate the enterprise’s transfer of loans and interest to a foreign party or the conversion of loans and interest into contributed capital, and avoid penalties for administrative violations.
Loans must be registered with the State Bank in the following cases:
- Medium-term and long-term foreign loans.
- Short-term loans whose principle repayment period is extended, resulting in a total loan term of more than 01 year.
- Short-term loans with no extension agreement but with an outstanding principal balance (including interest in the principal) at the time of 01 year from the first day of capital withdrawal, unless the borrower has paid the outstanding principal balance within 30 working days from the date of 01 year from the first day of capital withdrawal.
Procedure for loan registration
| Process | Detailled description |
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Step 1 |
Preparation
Enterprises need to prepare all documents listed above and pay attention to the time recorded on the documents to meet time-limit conditions of loan registration; For application for foreign loans registration which are not guaranteed by the Government: If the borrower has declared loan information on the website before submitting foreign loan registration dossiers: the borrower prints out form from the website, signs and stamps. If the borrower does not declare loan information on the website before submitting dossiers: the borrower completes foreign loan registration form and submits it to the State Bank. For second loan conversion or loan registration, enterprises need to review all loan reporting obligations that enterprises have responsibility to fulfill in the previous time to ensure timely progress of new loan registration. |
| Step 2 | Application submission
Borrowers send 01 dossier for foreign loan registration to competent authority to confirm registration within the time-limit: 30 working days from the date of signing the medium-term or long-term foreign loan agreement. 30 working days from the date of signing the agreement to extend short-term foreign loans to medium-term and long-term for loans that the date of signing the extension agreement within 01 year from the first day of capital withdrawal. 30 working days from the date that the borrower is granted Enterprise registration certificate, License for establishment and operation in accordance with specialized laws, the date of signing the public-private partnership investment contract (PPP contract), the date on which the parties sign the foreign loan agreement to convert the investment preparation amount into loan capital (depending on which day is later), applicable to the foreign loans arising from the conversion of investment preparation amount of the projects that have been granted Investment Registration Certificate into foreign loan capital. 60 working days from the date of 01 year from the first day of capital withdrawal for: Short-term foreign loans converted into medium-term and long-term loans with the date of signing extension agreement after 01 year from the first day of capital withdrawal; and Short-term foreign loans which do not have extension agreement but still have outstanding principal balance at the time of 01 year from the first day of capital withdrawal. |
| Step 3 | Get results
The State Bank shall send written approval or rejection of confirmation of loan registration (clearly state the reason) within the time-limit: 12 working days from the date of receiving all valid dossiers from borrower if the borrower has declared loan information on the website; 15 working days from the date of receiving all valid dossiers from borrower if the borrower does not declared loan information on the website. |
