Credit rating agencies must have at least 30 billion VND (1.57 million USD) in charter capital and established agency relationship with at least 20 financial institutions in order to be licensed by the State Bank of Vietnam, pursuant to a Government decree issued on Feb. 23.

Under Decree No 10/2010/ND-CP, to take effect on April 15, credit rating will be authorised to supply basic information about borrowers to banks and other financial institutions, including names and relatives of borrowers, borrowing and payment history, assets and outstanding loans.

The agencies would be authorized to use borrower information from the five most recent years to create credit reports.

The companies would be required to store such information for at least five years from the time it was received.

Borrowers would also have a right to obtain information from the agency database once per year free of charge and would have the rights to request a correction of inaccurate or false information.

Credit agencies will be required to apply for licences under the new decree no later than April 15 of next year. The State Bank of Vietnam will grant or reject applications by credit agencies for operating licences within 30 days. Licences will be revoked in cases of violations of regulations or misuse of information./.