Vietnamese households have long treated gold as a savings account, and much of that gold has changed hands for cash. A year ago the Government started to close that channel by requiring large gold purchases to go through a bank. A new decree now lowers the bar sharply: from 16 October 2026, any customer who buys or sells 5 million đồng or more of gold in a single day must pay by a non-cash method. At current prices that is well under a tenth of a lượng (tael) of SJC gold bars, so in practice almost every bar purchase, and most ring purchases, will now leave a digital trail.
The same decree also does something in the opposite direction: it takes the production and trading of jewellery and fine-art gold off the list of conditional business lines, ending the State Bank’s licensing role over goldsmiths.
The document
- Number: Nghị định 390/2026/NĐ-CP
- Issued by: the Government; signed by Deputy Prime Minister Nguyễn Văn Thắng
- Issue date: 16 October 2026
- Effective date: 16 October 2026 (the day it was signed)
- What it amends: Nghị định 24/2012/NĐ-CP of 3 April 2012 on the management of gold trading, as already amended by Nghị định 232/2025/NĐ-CP (issued 26 August 2025, effective 10 October 2025)
The press release on the Government portal appeared on 17 October, and the full text was posted on 19 October.
What changes
1. Cashless payment from 5 million đồng per customer per day
The new Article 4(10) reads, in substance: payment for buying or selling gold worth 05 million đồng or more in a day by one customer must be made by a non-cash payment instrument, as defined by the law on non-cash payments.
Before, the threshold set by Nghị định 232/2025 was 20 million đồng per day, and the text specifically required the money to move between the customer’s payment account and the gold dealer’s account at a commercial bank or foreign bank branch. The new wording does two things:
- it cuts the threshold by three-quarters, from 20 to 5 million đồng; and
- it stops naming the channel. Instead of “account to account at a bank”, it points to the general law on non-cash payments. That arguably opens the door to other legal non-cash instruments (cards, e-wallets linked to bank accounts, QR payments), though the exact list depends on that law rather than this decree.
Two details matter. The threshold is cumulative per customer per day, not per transaction, so splitting a purchase into several small cash payments on the same day does not avoid it. And the rule covers gold in general, not only gold bars. A customer buying several rings or a heavy necklace in one day can cross it too.
2. Jewellery and fine-art gold are no longer a conditional business
Under the old rules, producing jewellery and fine-art gold required a Giấy chứng nhận đủ điều kiện sản xuất (certificate of eligibility) from the State Bank, and trading it was a conditional business. Nghị định 390/2026 declares that producing, processing and trading jewellery and fine-art gold is not a conditional investment and business line, and repeals the decree’s provisions on those activities.
Goldsmiths and jewellery shops still have to follow the ordinary rules on product quality, standards, measurement, labelling, price listing, invoices, tax, fire safety, environment, consumer protection and anti-money laundering. The transition clauses say:
- certificates already issued no longer serve as a condition to operate;
- applications pending on 16 October are terminated, applicants are notified, and any fees paid are handled under the fee law.
Gold bars stay tightly controlled. Producing gold bars and trading them remains a conditional business that needs a State Bank licence.
3. Raw-gold imports: new licence names and new grounds
- A business registered to produce or process jewellery that holds a processing contract with a foreign party can be considered for a licence to import raw gold to fulfil that contract and export the product. This replaces the old “temporary import for re-export” licence, which also required the eligibility certificate.
- For foreign-invested enterprises, the State Bank reviews import licences annually. Grounds now include export contracts, not only processing contracts, alongside production capacity and last year’s export report.
- Imports and exports of gold in the form of powder, solution, solder flakes, gold salts, wire and tubes, semi-finished jewellery, and gold used as raw material for electronic components, electronic devices, medical equipment and medical instruments now follow the business registration certificate, customs law and sector rules, rather than a gold-specific licence.
- Importers may sell imported raw gold to any business registered to produce jewellery. Before, buyers had to hold the eligibility certificate.
Import licences, temporary-import licences and import/export quotas granted before 16 October remain valid on their stated terms unless adjusted or revoked.
4. A data obligation for importers
The tech-relevant part sits in amended Article 14(10)(e). Businesses and commercial banks licensed to import gold must build an information system that processes and stores, fully and accurately, data on export, import, purchase, sale, use and inventory of imported raw gold, plus transaction data on raw-gold trading. They must also connect it to the State Bank and supply data to it, under rules the State Bank Governor will set. The reporting article (Article 20) is rewritten along the same lines. It no longer lists jewellery production and trading.
5. Who supervises what
The State Bank now inspects gold-bar production and trading, gold-bar and raw-gold import/export, and compliance on licences, quotas, reports and imported raw-gold use. Jewellery production drops out of its inspection list. The Ministry of Science and Technology leads on building and publishing national standards for jewellery and gold bars, checks measurement and quality across production, import and circulation, and verifies dealers’ measuring equipment.
Who is affected
- Individuals buying or selling gold: bring a bank card or phone. For a typical gold-bar or multi-ring purchase, cash is no longer an option once the day’s total hits 5 million đồng, and the purchase will be tied to your bank identity.
- Gold-bar dealers and banks: they need payment acceptance and records that can total a customer’s daily purchases across transactions.
- Goldsmiths and jewellery workshops: less paperwork to start, but the same exposure under quality, tax-invoice and AML rules.
- FDI jewellery exporters and electronics/medical manufacturers: easier access to raw gold, but importers carry a new systems-and-connection duty.
Open questions
- Effective on signing. The decree took effect on 16 October, a day before the public learned of it. It is unclear how dealers who accepted 5–20 million đồng in cash on 16–17 October will be treated.
- Which instruments qualify? “Non-cash payment instrument” is defined elsewhere. Whether every e-wallet or QR route counts, and how a dealer proves the customer paid from their own account, will likely need State Bank guidance.
- How is “per day per customer” counted? Dealers will need identity checks to aggregate purchases. Practice with the old 20-million threshold relied on bank-to-bank transfers. The new, broader channel may make aggregation harder.
- The State Bank’s data-connection rules for importers have not been published yet.
Sources
- Báo Chính phủ: Từ 16/10/2026, mua, bán vàng trong ngày từ 5 triệu đồng phải thanh toán không dùng tiền mặt
- Xây dựng chính sách, pháp luật: Nghị định số 390/2026/NĐ-CP sửa đổi, bổ sung quy định quản lý hoạt động kinh doanh vàng
- Văn bản Chính phủ: system listing for Nghị định 390/2026/NĐ-CP (16/10/2026)
- Dân trí: Từ 16/10, mua bán vàng trong ngày từ 5 triệu đồng phải chuyển khoản
- LuatVietnam: 7 điểm mới tại Nghị định 390/2026/NĐ-CP về quản lý hoạt động kinh doanh vàng
- LuatVietnam: Đã có Nghị định 232/2025/NĐ-CP sửa đổi Nghị định về quản lý hoạt động kinh doanh vàng
This post is general information, not legal advice.