On 28 June 2023, the State Bank of Vietnam issued Circular No. 06/2023/TT-NHNN amending several provisions of Circular No. 39/2016/TT-NHNN of the SBV dated 30 December 2016 on lending activities of onshore credit institutions and foreign bank branches (local banks) to customers. The new Circular will come into effect on 1 September 2023.

The State Bank of Vietnam released a draft circular on conditions for enterprises’ offshore loans without government guarantee, which aims to replace Circular No. 12/2014/TT-NHNN dated 31 March 2014. The Draft Circular tightens the control on offshore loans to tackle the risk of excess national foreign debt quota and to promote the onshore loan market. Borrowers are now expected to meet additional conditions to borrow offshore loans without government guarantee.

Cross-border lending in Asia Pacific continues to grow steadily despite external factors such as COVID-19. While the region is not immune to external factors, borrowing volumes for financial institutions, credit funds and other market participants remain high in Asia Pacific. Considering the demographics of many of the nations, the various financial centers and many market participants investing more substantially in some of those financial centers, we remain optimistic that lending activity across Asia Pacific will continue to grow.