The rule is real. Its boundary matters more than the slogan.
Article 97 of Decree 329/2025/NĐ-CP addresses foreign-exchange transactions of member enterprises.
Article 97: a member enterprise may conduct foreign-exchange transactions with a Vietnamese credit institution within the scope available to a non-resident customer. When a member enterprise transfers investment money from the Centre into the rest of Vietnam, Article 93.2 applies the rules applicable to foreign investors.
The rule is specific
Article 97 applies to a member enterprise. It concerns foreign-exchange transactions with a Vietnamese credit institution. The transactions are governed by the Governor of the State Bank’s regulations on foreign-exchange transactions in the foreign-exchange market of licensed credit institutions.
Article 86 supplies the boundary. A member enterprise may use foreign currency for activities and services provided to other Members, people outside Vietnam, and organisations outside Vietnam. For people and organisations in Vietnam that are not Members, Article 86.2(b) sends the transaction back to Vietnam's current foreign-exchange rules.
Article 86 does not state a blanket right to use foreign currency with every domestic counterparty.
The account is part of the rule
Article 84.1(a) requires a member enterprise to use a foreign-currency payment account at one member bank as its capital account for four named purposes.
Article 84.3 adds a separate rule for an outside investor making a foreign investment into the Centre: the investor must use a foreign-currency payment account at a member bank. Article 85 then preserves the possibility for a member enterprise to use foreign-currency payment accounts at non-member banks under the ordinary resident and non-resident rules.
The account structure is not a footnote.
Ownership changes the outward-investment process
For a Member that is 100% foreign-owned, Article 94 removes the registration and registration-change requirement for foreign-exchange transactions related to outward investment. The Member still transfers through the stated account and still makes declarations and reports under Article 98.
For a member that is not wholly foreign-owned, Article 95 applies only when the relevant investment form is permitted under applicable investment law. For direct outward investment, it requires registration of the related foreign-exchange transaction with the Executive Agency before transfer and registration of changes when they arise; for indirect outward investment, it requires transfer through the Article 84.1(a) account.
The contrast is sharp enough to put into an early cap-table and operating-model review.
The Executive Agency is the filing counterparty in these provisions
Article 83 assigns the Executive Agency authority to issue the listed guidance; the Executive Agency at city level receives the specified declarations and handles the specified registration and change-registration procedures. Article 98 places development and promulgation of reporting rules with the Executive Agency, on the basis of agreement with the State Bank; members and related organisations report under those rules.
Articles 83 and 98 allocate authority over specified declarations, registrations, guidance and reporting rules. They do not, by themselves, establish a universal current filing recipient, a complete form set or an operating submission mechanism.
The cited provisions place IFC-facing filing and reporting work with the Executive Agency.
Open questions
What current State Bank guidance applies to a particular non-resident-customer transaction? Which member banks are actually available for the accounts Article 84 requires? How does the Executive Agency's current guidance operationalise the declarations and registrations in Articles 83, 94 and 95?
Ask the competent authority for the current guidance and implementation detail.
Sources
<https://vanban.chinhphu.vn/?pageid=27160&docid=216256>
Boundary note. This is a reading of published instruments for research and operational planning. It is not legal, tax, investment, banking, payments or foreign-exchange advice. The Vietnamese signed text governs. A concrete transaction should be reviewed against current implementing guidance and by a qualified adviser.