Fintech Solutions (i), (ii), (iii), (v) and (vi)⁶

Fintech Solution (iv) (i.e., P2P Lending)⁷

Criteria on participating entities

1.  Incorporation and status:

• Being a legal entity duly established and operating in Vietnam;
• Not being under reorganization, bankruptcy or dissolution in accordance with an issued decision; and
• Not being within the group of credit institutions under special supervision in accordance with the Law on Credit Institutions.

1.  Incorporation and status:

• Being a legal entity duly established and operating in Vietnam;
• Not being under reorganization, bankruptcy or dissolution in accordance with an issued decision; and
• Having an establishment license/enterprise registration certificate that does not include the pawn business.

2.  Management:

• Legal representative and (general) director must have professional background or actual experience in business management or in the relevant industry; and
• Personnel implementing the Fintech Solution must have specialized professional background in the relevant industry.

2.  Management:

• Legal representative and (general) director should neither have any criminal record nor have been subject to any administrative sanction in the financial, banking or cybersecurity areas.

3.   Requirements on the proposed Fintech Solutions:

• The technical and professional aspects of such Fintech Solution must be wholly unregulated under Vietnamese laws (i.e., have not been regulated by other laws) or the current legal framework does not provide a clear and/or detailed guidance on the application of such solution;
• The solution must be a creative solution which can benefit and bring about added value to users in Vietnam – especially those solutions which can support and foster financial inclusion;
• The solution must be equipped with a risk management system to limit adverse impacts on the banking system and the financial sector of Vietnam, and capable of tackling and reducing risks during the test run;
• The participating entities must have performed thorough assessment measures on the solutions’ operation and functions; and
• The solution must be feasible to be distributed into the Vietnamese market upon completion of its test run in the Sandbox Program.

Licensing process

• The participating entity is required to submit an application dossier to the SBV, which contains several prescribed documents, including detailed proposals on the test run of the proposed Fintech Solutions, technical/professional procedures on the implementation of the relevant Fintech Solutions, estimated expenses and costs for the test run, reporting scheme with the SBV on the test run progress, presentation on the participating entity’s management and governance. In terms of P2P Lending, the application dossier is more complicated, which also includes descriptions on relevant procedures on KYC, internal audit, data collection and protection, rights and duties vis-à-vis customers, risk management plans, account managements, etc.
• The preparation of the application dossier would take a significant amount of time and efforts for the applicant.
• The entire assessment and appraisal process may take at the minimum about 65 working days from the date of application, and will be handled mainly by the SBV which may seek further opinions from other relevant ministries (if necessary).

Scope of the test run

• Based on the specific Fintech Solution and the specific proposal of the applicant, the SBV will decide the scope of the test run of the relevant Fintech Solution in terms of (i) geographic area, (ii) limit on transaction value, (iii) number of customers, and (iv) other aspects as determined by the SBV.

Duration of the test run

• The term of the Certificate of Participation in the Sandbox Program will not be longer than the term of the establishment license/enterprise registration certificate of the participating entity.
• The duration of the Fintech Solution’s test run is maximum two (2) years as from the issuance date of the Certificate of Participation in the Sandbox Program, depending on the specific solution and sector. Such duration could be extended by the SBV for multiple times, with each extension not exceeding one (1) year.
•  The SBV may suspend the applicant’s participation in the Sandbox Program and revoke the issued Certificate of Participation in the Sandbox Program upon occurrence of certain events, including among others, any change to the legal representative or internal restructuring of the participating entity.

Other notes

• N/A

• A P2P lender will be responsible for all matters in relation to the test run of the P2P lending activity.
• A P2P lender will be subject to certain operational restrictions during the duration of the Sandbox Program, including prohibition on providing “loan security measures” or information brokerage services related to lending for stock investment or other high-risk purposes.
• Executives of P2P lenders must not concurrently own or manage other businesses operating banking and financial services, pawn service, intermediary payment service or e-wallet.