Banks are prohibited from selling insurance in the "beer and peanuts" style.

The Law on Credit Institutions (amended) recently passed by the National Assembly has added provisions on selling insurance associated with providing banking products and services to the prohibited acts.

Specifically, the Law clearly stipulates that credit institutions, foreign bank branches, managers, operators, and employees of credit institutions and foreign bank branches are not allowed to link the sale of non-compulsory insurance products with the provision of banking products and services in any form.

Exchanging new money and small change for a profit will be prosecuted by law.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Ho Chi Minh City branch has just issued the above opinion and said that the authorities will strengthen inspection and supervision of the collection and exchange of new small bills and money exchange on the internet in the coming days to prevent and handle it promptly.

A representative of the State Bank of Vietnam said that all acts of collecting and exchanging new money or small change from individuals and organizations to enjoy the difference and exchanging money on the Internet are violations of the law and will be strictly handled.

Ministry of Industry and Trade : It is necessary to apply a new method of calculating electricity prices with 2 components.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has just sent a document to the Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) requesting the urgent development of a two-component electricity price mechanism, including capacity price and electricity price, and at the same time develop a roadmap and propose customers to apply these two-component electricity prices. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the application of two-component electricity prices will send the right signal to both electricity producers and electricity consumers.

Based on the proposed mechanism and selection of customer objects, the electricity company calculates and compares the application of the 2-component electricity price with the application of the electricity price according to the current electricity price list. (See more)

6 insurance companies will be inspected in 2024

At the regular press conference of the Ministry of Finance on the afternoon of January 19, Deputy Director of the Department of Insurance Management and Supervision (Ministry of Finance) Doan Thanh Tuan said that regarding the inspection of insurance enterprises in 2023, up to now, 8/10 enterprises have been inspected. It is expected that the inspection of enterprises will be completed before the Lunar New Year of Giap Thin 2024. After issuing the inspection conclusion, the Department of Insurance Management and Supervision will publish full information.

Regarding the inspection plan for 2024, Mr. Tuan said that the Ministry of Finance will conduct inspections of 6 insurance companies. Of which, 4 are non-life insurance companies and 2 are life insurance companies. (See more)

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Bank-linked insurance has been a headache recently.

Proposing ministries to coordinate in managing the gold market

The State Bank of Vietnam has just issued a document requesting the ministries of Public Security, Industry and Trade and Finance to coordinate with the State Bank of Vietnam to manage the gold market, avoiding large fluctuations in gold prices as in the past.

The State Bank of Vietnam proposed inter-sectoral coordination to manage the gold market in the context of the gold market having just experienced a series of days of increasing prices of SJC gold bars.

In response to developments in the gold market, on December 28, 2023, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh signed an official dispatch directing solutions to stabilize the gold market. The State Bank of Vietnam later said it would submit a summary report on Decree 24, including proposals to amend and supplement a number of regulations on gold market management to suit the new market context. (See more)

Expanding the group of people involved in manipulating banking activities

The Law on Credit Institutions (amended) was just passed by the 5th Extraordinary Session of the National Assembly on the morning of January 18. The Law consists of 15 chapters and 210 articles (compared to the draft Law submitted to the National Assembly at the 6th Session, 4 articles were removed, 11 articles were added, 15 articles were kept the same and other articles were technically revised).

One of the notable points in the Law on Credit Institutions is the identification of related persons, to make transparent the ownership of shares of shareholders. (See more)

Prime Minister will decide on special loans with 0% interest rate

According to the Law on Credit Institutions (amended) recently passed, the Prime Minister will have the right to decide on special loans to banks without collateral at an interest rate of 0% per year, based on the proposal of the State Bank.

For special loans with interest rates and collateral, the State Bank is the competent authority to decide. The interest rates and collateral of this loan are determined by the Governor of the State Bank. The cooperative bank will decide on special loans with the People's Credit Fund.

EVN was granted more than 2,500 billion to extend the power grid to Con Dao.

On the morning of January 18, the National Assembly voted to pass a Resolution on the use of general reserves and central budget reserves of the medium-term public investment plan for the 2021-2025 period for ministries, central and local agencies and Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN).

With this resolution, the National Assembly agreed to allow EVN to use more than VND2,500 billion to implement the project of extending the power grid to Con Dao (Ba Ria - Vung Tau province) and to pour more than VND57,000 billion into transportation projects. (See more)

Warning about 'tricks' of Spanish businesses

The Vietnamese Trade Office in Spain has just issued a warning about the tricks of Spanish businesses when buying and selling Vietnamese agricultural products to Vietnamese businesses. This Spanish business cited the reason that the goods of Vietnamese businesses do not ensure quality at the port of arrival, or are in a state of loss due to the decline in local market prices.

Therefore, the company did not comply with the sales contract, delayed and delayed in paying the remaining amount for the goods. (See more)

2 GDP growth scenarios in 2024

The Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) has just released two scenarios for Vietnam's GDP growth in 2024, with scenario 1 achieving 6.12% growth and scenario 2 achieving 6.48% growth.

The two GDP growth scenarios for 2024 forecasted by CIEM from 6.12-6.48% are quite close to the GDP target approved by the National Assembly from 6-6.5%.