The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has issued a fine of VND120 million ($5,217) to Grab (Vietnam) Ltd. due to its failure to comply with regulations relating to administrative procedures on registering loans from overseas.

Grab failed to submit a document on time, drawing a fine from the SBV.
(Photo: VIR)

According to the SBV, ride hailing service provider Grab missed the deadline for submitting a dossier to adjust its existing short-term loans into the mid-term or long-term loans (the duration for the short-term loan is just one year). This violated Article 13(3b) of Circular No.03/2016/TT-NHNN dated February 26, 2016, providing several instructions on foreign exchange administration with respect to enterprise’s foreign borrowing and foreign debt repayment.

Notably, according to Article 13, the time limit for sending or submitting dossiers is a maximum 30 days starting after the date on which the agreement on the renewal of a short-term foreign loan into a mid-term or long-term loan is effected in respect of conventional loans referred to in Article 9(2) hereof.

The SBV asked Grab to pay the fine on time, otherwise the authority will apply coercive measures according to regulations.

Grab said that the firm does its utmost to comply with Vietnamese regulations, but the dossier for extending the loan was unfortunately completed behind the deadline.

“Grab will work with the SBV to deal with the incident and will pay the fine on time as well as obey other requirements from the SBV,” said the representative of Grab.