Bank transfers over 400 million to unfamiliar accounts may require a 24-hour wait

According to Official Dispatch 6190, the State Bank requires banks to deploy a service allowing individual customers to register transaction limits and waiting time before money is transferred to the recipient. Banks must develop a plan and complete it before March 1, 2027.

This regulation only applies to online money transfer transactions to new beneficiary accounts (unprecedented in the transfer history) or transactions exceeding the customer’s registered limit within the previous year.

If the customer does not register, the State Bank stipulates that a default limit of 400 million VND will be applied with a minimum waiting period of 24 hours.

This is an optional service, customers can actively register, change the limit, waiting time or cancel this service if they do not want to continue using it.

Mr. Pham Anh Tuan, Director of Payment Department (State Bank) affirmed that the new regulations allow customers to choose their own limit and waiting time in accordance with their needs and risk tolerance, instead of applying a common mechanism for all.

According to him, many money transfer scams occur when victims are psychologically manipulated and forced to transfer money immediately. The waiting period helps customers calmly review transactions, check information, discuss with relatives or contact the bank when detecting unusual signs.

This is a solution that has been applied by many countries such as the UK, Australia, Singapore, India and Taiwan to reduce fraud in electronic payments.

The Head of Payment Department affirmed that this mechanism does not replace current security measures such as biometric authentication, OTP, multi-factor authentication or abnormal transaction monitoring, but adds an additional layer of protection proactively set up by customers themselves.

The State Bank affirmed that it does not stipulate a general limit for all users. Customers should choose the limit based on their needs and transaction frequency.

People who rarely transfer large amounts of money to new accounts can set a low limit to expand the scope of protection. Meanwhile, people who regularly transact for production and business can choose a higher limit to avoid payment interruptions.

For the elderly, who rarely use digital banking or are at risk of becoming targets of fraudsters, the State Bank recommends considering setting a more cautious limit.

If you use multiple accounts, Mr. Tuan advises users to consider setting different limits to suit the purpose of each account.

For example, an account for regular spending can have a limit set to suit daily payment needs. For accounts mainly used to accumulate or manage large amounts of money, you can choose a more conservative limit to enhance risk control.