The State Bank of Vietnam has amended its 'know your customer' rules that apply to high-net-worth individuals.

The latest round of reforms oblige each bank to submit its equivalent of the UK's annual MLRO's report to the anti-money-laundering department (whereas in the UK it goes to the board) not later than two months after the end of the financial year. There is also a new obligation to train staff - presumably all staff - to keep an eye out for money-launderers.

The reforms also dictate that each bank must appoint someone who bears overall responsibility for anti-money-laundering control. The person in question need not, however, be particularly senior in the style of the UK's call for an 'AML director'.

In one sense the regulations are becoming looser. Whereas EU banks are obliged to ask importunate questions of all HNWs to ascertain the veracity of their sources of wealth, their sources of funds and the consistency between the expected shape of the business relationships they want to establish and their income and asset profiles, Vietnamese banks ask applicants for business to state their average income over a limited period - formerly 6 months into the past and now 3 months. A long-standing obligation to make them report information about their families has gone as well.

The State Bank of Vietnam used Circular No 31/2014/TT-NHNN to change Circular 35/2013/TT-NHNN for these reforms. The changes came into effect at the very end of last year. These rule-changes apply to KYC regarding companies and not just people.