Banking, Foreign Exchange & Repatriation

Why money needs a chapter of its own

Vietnam guarantees that a foreign investor may take its money home. Article 11 of Law No. 143/2025/QH15 on Investment allows a foreign investor, once it has met its financial obligations to the State, to transfer abroad its invested capital and liquidation proceeds, its income from business investment and the other money and assets it lawfully owns. The guarantee is real, but it is delivered through a foreign exchange regime that is still controlled. Every flow has a prescribed channel, every bank is required to check documents before it pays, and a flow that took the wrong route on the way in can be difficult to reverse on the way out. Investors who plan their banking at the start rarely have trouble; investors who treat it as an administrative afterthought often find profits or proceeds sitting in Vietnam for months while documents are reconstructed.

The framework rests on Ordinance No. 28/2005/PL-UBTVQH11 on Foreign Exchange, as amended by Ordinance No. 06/2013/PL-UBTVQH13, administered by the State Bank of Vietnam through a series of circulars. The distinctions that drive everything else, between residents and non-residents and between current and capital transactions, are explained in The foreign exchange control framework, together with the mirror-image rules for Vietnamese investors investing abroad and the anti-money-laundering regime that now shapes every bank's appetite for new clients.

Getting money in: accounts and capital

A foreign-invested company needs two kinds of bank account. The investment capital account carries the capital flows: contributions of charter capital, payments for share transfers with Vietnamese parties, the remittance of profits and the return of capital. Circular No. 38/2026/TT-NHNN, in force from 18 August 2026, replaced Circular No. 06/2019/TT-NHNN, renamed the account, extended it to the international financial centre and allowed it to be opened before the Investment Registration Certificate. Who must open it, at how many banks, in which currencies and for which flows is set out in The investment capital account, with a decision guide on which account each flow uses. The 90-day deadline for paying charter capital belongs to company law and is explained in Charter capital and capital contribution.

The ordinary payment accounts in dong and foreign currency carry the trading flows. Opening them has become more demanding: Circular No. 17/2024/TT-NHNN, as amended by Circular No. 25/2025/TT-NHNN, requires the bank to meet the legal representative in person or verify him or her biometrically, and since 1 July 2025 banks suspend online transactions on corporate accounts whose representative has not completed biometric verification. The dossier, the beneficial ownership and source-of-funds questions, the choice between local and foreign banks and realistic timelines are in Opening corporate bank accounts.

Borrowing from abroad

Shareholder loans and offshore bank loans are common in Vietnamese structures because equity is slow to return. They are permitted, but only within limits. Circular No. 08/2023/TT-NHNN, as amended, restricts the purposes for which a company may borrow abroad and caps medium and long-term borrowing for a licensed project at the loan capital shown in its IRC, that is, total investment capital less the investor's contributed capital. Circular No. 12/2022/TT-NHNN, as amended by Circular No. 80/2025/TT-NHNN from 25 January 2026, requires loans of more than one year, and short-term loans that run past a year, to be registered with the State Bank within 30 working days and before drawdown, online through the National Public Service Portal. Interest bears foreign contractor tax and, for a borrower with related-party transactions, net interest is deductible only up to 30% of EBITDA. The whole regime, with a worked shareholder-loan example, is in Offshore loans and State Bank registration.

Getting money out: profits and capital

Profits are remitted once a year, after the financial year has closed, the audited financial statements and the corporate income tax finalisation have been filed, the tax has been paid and any accumulated losses have been absorbed. Decree No. 252/2026/ND-CP, in force from 1 July 2026, sets the tax conditions; the company notifies its tax office at least seven working days before it remits, and the money leaves through the investment capital account. Capital comes home on a sale of the investment, a reduction of charter capital or a liquidation, each with its own conditions. The step-by-step procedure, a checklist and the branch position are in Profit remittance and repatriation of capital; the tax on dividends and on share sales is in Tax on share transfers and dividends.

Inside Vietnam, and across the border

Within Vietnam, residents may not quote, price, advertise, invoice or pay each other in foreign currency except in cases listed in Circular No. 32/2013/TT-NHNN, as amended. The exceptions matter in practice: transactions with non-residents, exports and imports, export processing enterprises, and foreign-currency salaries for foreign employees. The rule, the penalties under Decree No. 340/2025/ND-CP, the non-cash payment conditions for tax deductions and exchange-rate practice are in Currency and payments inside Vietnam.

Payments abroad for goods, services, royalties, interest and group charges are current transactions that banks execute against documents. Most payments to foreign entities bear foreign contractor tax, which the Vietnamese payer withholds and declares within ten days of payment, and intra-group charges must meet the arm's-length and benefit tests. The documents a bank will ask for, the tax steps and a worked monthly payment run are in Paying foreign suppliers and group companies, cross-referring to Foreign contractor tax and tax treaties and Transfer pricing, interest and global minimum tax.

Lenders, security and the financial centre

Project and acquisition finance depends on security. The Civil Code, Decree No. 21/2021/ND-CP and the registration regime in Decree No. 99/2022/ND-CP govern mortgages, pledges and guarantees; land use rights can be mortgaged only to credit institutions licensed in Vietnam, so offshore lenders work through an onshore security agent. The Vietnam International Financial Centre, a single centre with hubs in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang created by Resolution No. 222/2025/QH15, offers its members a liberalised foreign exchange regime and a specialised court with foreign judges under Law No. 150/2025/QH15. What is in force and what is still pending is set out in Project finance, security and the financial centre; disputes are covered in Chapter 9.

Readers new to Vietnam should read the sections in order. Readers with a company already licensed will usually start with the profit remittance and payments sections. Each section ends with the related FAQs, the official sources and a question that can be put to Lawbot on the reader's own facts; the short answers to the most common questions are in the repatriation and banking FAQs.