Are Banks going Belly Up?

[Ravenlocke]

https://twitter.com/TheCradleMedia/s...57722906771457

https://thecradle.co/article-view/24...-bank-official

$51 billion lost by Lebanese depositors since 2019: Bank official

The Secretary-General of the Association of Lebanese Banks, Fadi Khalaf, revealed that approximately $51 billion of Lebanese depositors’ funds have been lost since late 2019, Sputnik reported on 16 May.

While speaking about Lebanon’s banking crisis and ongoing negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Khalaf stated that it has been “forty-three months, during which depositors lost fifty-one billion dollars of their deposits, and the state is still discussing projects, then withdrawing some of them and reformulating others, and if some laws are approved, the IMF is dissatisfied with them.”

He said that the $51 billion of depositors’ funds were dispensed as loans granted to the private sector or to the government to fund the purchases of imported goods, including fuel.

Funds loaned to the government came from mandatory bank reserves, which are hard currency deposits parked by local lenders at the central bank. These reserves represent a percentage of customer deposits and are usually not drawn upon except in exceptional circumstances, with the correct legal permission.

The secretary-general of the Association of Banks mourned what he described as “politics” that “preferred to transform the Lebanese economy into something resembling communist economies, yet the state did not even respect the concepts of communism, so the bulk of what was squandered went to the pockets of powerful beneficiaries [in Lebanon] and abroad more than to the people.”

In March, the IMF warned that the government must stop borrowing from the central bank and that its failure to implement reforms had exacerbated the country’s economic and banking crises.

“One would have expected more in terms of implementation and approval of legislation” related to reforms, IMF mission chief Ernesto Rigo told a news conference, while noting “very slow” progress. “Lebanon is in a very dangerous situation,” he added, in what Reuters described as “unusually frank remarks.”

Lebanon signed an agreement with the IMF nearly one year ago but has not met the conditions to secure a $3 billion aid package.

Without implementing reforms, Lebanon “will be mired in a never-ending crisis,” the IMF warned in a written statement.

Since 2019, the lira has lost 98 percent of its value against the US dollar, leading to crippling inflation, mass poverty, and a wave of emigration from the small Mediterranean nation.

The crisis erupted after decades of reckless spending and corruption among Lebanon’s elite, some of whom led banks that lent heavily to the state, including billionaire and former prime minister Saad Hariri.

Losses in the financial system are estimated at more than $70 billion, the majority of which were accrued at the central bank, which borrowed dollars from private banks at unusually high-interest rates to maintain an unsustainable peg of the lira to the dollar.

“No more borrowing from the central bank,” Rigo said, while warning that Lebanon should move towards a floating exchange rate based on market forces rather than maintaining multiple rates determined by the central bank.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

https://twitter.com/TheCradleMedia/s...03490627420167

https://thecradle.co/article-view/24...ral-bank-chief

France orders arrest of Lebanon central bank chief

French prosecutors have issued an arrest warrant for Lebanon’s Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, Arab News reported on 16 May.

The warrant comes after Salameh failed to attend a court hearing in Paris. Prosecutors intended to press preliminary fraud charges, court documents and two sources said.

Salameh has attempted to avoid arrest and has failed to show up for court hearings in his native Lebanon in the past.

In March, the Lebanese Ministry of Justice asked the judiciary to arrest Salameh and his assistant Marianne Majid Howayek, as well as to seize their properties and freeze their bank accounts.

The request came after Salameh was absent from a hearing held on 15 March by a local judge along with European investigators, who were tasked to investigate charges against the central bank governor, including “bribery, forgery, money laundering, illicit enrichment, and tax evasion.”

In March 2020, France, Germany, and Luxembourg seized properties and froze assets belonging to Salameh worth 120 million euros in a major operation linked to money laundering.

The accusations stem from the activities of a brokerage firm Salameh and his brother established, Forry Associates, that took some $330 million in fees for brokering the sale of Lebanese government bonds between 2002 and 2015, $200 million of which was allegedly transferred to Salameh’s personal accounts with various Lebanese banks.

The sale of these government bonds was at the heart of a banking Ponzi scheme established by Salameh that became unsustainable and finally began to collapse in October 2019.

This resulted in a financial crisis that caused the value of the Lebanese lira to crash by some 98 percent, wiping out the life savings of many and causing widespread poverty as prices of everything, including essential goods, skyrocketed. Some estimates of losses for Lebanese bank depositors have amounted to roughly $111 billion.

[halcyon026]

Here's a dataset on FDIC failed banks since 2000.

https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/nidzsharma/failed-bank

[Ravenlocke]

https://twitter.com/dana916/status/1685121275881021440

[onawah]

Is the US the Next USSR? John Michael Chambers Drops Intel
7/30/23
https://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/is-...s-drops-intel/

"I had a whole news show planned for Friday night but then, American Media Periscope founder, John Michael Chambers showed up and we had a conversation, instead.

I begin by talking about Dr Joseph Mercola, who was de-banked by Rockefeller-owned Chase Bank. Chase not only shut down Dr Mercola’s bank account but they also shut down the accounts of his employees AND their family members! The Rockefellers apparently want to transform the United States into North Korea.
https://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/dr-...ndemic-crisis/

Mercola had already been de-banked by another institution a few years ago and he was threatened to such a degree; that he would be sued and that his web domain that he’s operated since 1997 would be seized, that he was forced to remove 26 years of content from his website. He no longer leaves posts up there for longer than 48 hours, having now moved his blog to Substack. That he’s been de-banked again – in addition to his employees and their family members – is a signal to him that the Satanic Deep State is getting ready to launch a new attack that makes COVID look like a walk in the park.

John Michael Chambers is no stranger to de-banking and de-platforming; he was de-platformed by all of the social media companies and he was de-banked by PayPal, so I wanted to get his 40,000 foot view of this second de-banking of Dr Mercola.

We’ve also all been hearing lots of rumors about the imminent collapse of the US dollar and/or the imminent collapse of the entire Western banking system and how everybody in the so-called “Free World” will soon be effectively de-banked.

The Federal Reserve System has announced that their FedNow service has gone live. https://www.federalreserve.gov/newse...r20230720a.htm
Greg Reese made a report about how the FedNow will be the transaction processing system for the Federal Reserve’s programmable Central Bank Digital Currency.
https://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/the...dc-this-month/

Since John is a financial guy, I wanted to get his views on these rumors and developments and where he thinks things are headed financially, politically, geopolitically, etc over the next 24 months.

John talks about how the Federal Government of the US is about to collapse, just as the Soviet Union did but that this doesn’t
mean that the US dollar ends – same way that the Russian Ruble didn’t end. Like the Ruble, the USD will get severely pummeled for a while but it will survive."


Source: https://www.rumble.com/video/v30frr8/?pub=ijro7

[Ratszinger]

I think the citizenry of the USA is tapped out for credit so badly they simply had no choice but to open the border for an inflow of new creditors that they can loan $ to so the FED can continue to print new money.

Most Americans cannot come up with $400 dollar cash for an emergency according to new reports being read by talking heads on TV local channels lately. Earlier I saw an article saying most US citizens had two or more maxed out credit card debt with the av. balance owed of get this? $80,000 and that is not even including the mortgages, sometimes double and triple ones, and insuracnce a major bill these days. Then we have car and lease payments, school for children or college, some have adult children living at home again and have inherited some fo their bills.

Then we have utilities, groceries and dealing with inflation and by the time we get all that and water and trash paid for there is hardly any left pay check to pay check. As I've pointed out elsewhere here, when Rome was tapped out the same way for cash and credit they freed the slaves to save the empire. For a time that worked until those slaves ruined their credit and cash situations also and then the empire began crumbling. We in the US were facing that and in our usury system of money creation that cannot happen. So we didn't have slaves to free, we opened the borders.

So due to the fact that Americans have wide and far mismanaged their credti and cash situations so badly and still do so that when they can't pay anymore bills and lose their home, have their cars taken and are kicked to the streets they have new clean slates to loan money to that can pay the bills and isn't strapped in debt and a cash flow situation to move right into them and pick up where they left off. And best of all unlike Rome where there was a limit to the number of new creditors for us it's an endless stream. So when the new residents mismanage their situation the same as the first did they have new to replace them over and over and over to infinity.

As far as the Federal Reserve and your surviving banks are concerned those immigrants are more important to them than the tapped out law abiding native citizenry!

[shaberon]

Posted by Ratszinger (here)
As I've pointed out elsewhere here, when Rome was tapped out the same way for cash and credit they freed the slaves to save the empire. For a time that worked until those slaves ruined their credit and cash situations also and then the empire began crumbling. We in the US were facing that and in our usury system of money creation that cannot happen. So we didn't have slaves to free, we opened the borders.

Precisely because Rome and the U. S. refuse to participate in Debt Jubilee.

That is how Babylon and Greece managed it.

Here, we are so much not supposed to know about it, that even mentioning it, all you get is blank stares.

Otherwise, yes, all that happens is human churn with no regard for widespread misery, coupled with the fact that most of the perpetrators have easy escape routes, i. e. multiple homes around the world.

[norman]

Yet, the banks seem to feel like they have enough power, still, do the de-banking tactic.

How does that fit in ?

People need banking as a payments service now like never before. Elon Musk is probably feeling a bum rush from them to get his X service fully functional fast enough, not unlike how Q and Trump bum rushed the pandemic etc.

Net result, one way or another, we are being pushed into the arms of services that handle the parts of 'banking' that we cannot function without.

[Bill Ryan]

This fascinating interview with Alex from Reporterfly (which I was NOT well-equipped to fully understand) was aired live on The Duran yesterday. This might be the best thread for it that we have, though it's not about the banks going belly up: it's about everything going belly up — starting with the imminent implosion of the derivative market, possibly triggered by the rise in natural gas prices this winter.

The market spot price of natural gas today is $3.12. When it nears $4, Alex states, as he suspects it will do quite soon, everything will come down.

We've seen many 'sky-is-falling' warnings about the precarious state of the global financial system, but this video is so apocalyptic all the others pale in comparison. It'd be easy to dismiss, if it didn't all sound so very serious and plausible.

Derivatives and the Coming Collapse

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=sAErqW7vj7Y

[onawah]

(Banks in China are going belly up already. Just a few signs of it, among many):

Over $150 Billion Flowed Out of China, with Hong Kong as a Hub for Underground Banking
China Observer
292K subscribers
37,865 views 10/17/23

"Under the banner of "common prosperity" promoted by Xi Jinping, China is witnessing a massive capital outflow. Due to its unique position, Hong Kong has become a transit hub for the wealth exodus of China's elites.
On September 29, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced that renminbi deposits in Hong Kong increased by 6.0% in August, reaching 962.5 billion yuan (about 134 billion US dollars) at the end of August.
On the other hand, the Hong Kong foreign exchange fund, which supports the stability of the Hong Kong dollar's exchange rate and essentially serves as the government's fiscal reserve, decreased by 35.8 billion Hong Kong dollars (approximately 4.57 billion US dollars) in August.
This indicates the undeniable capital outflow from Hong Kong, and the scale is quite significant."

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=fTylQ4ATjF8

***********

(Local governments in China are in deep debt. They try to compensate by taxing and ticketing the populace more. )

Shocking Truth Behind ‘Great Escape’ In Changchun; 6 Charts Reveal China's Mountain of Local Debt
China Truths
28.6K subscribers
10/17/23

"Shocking! Changchun Suddenly Stages A ‘Great Escape,’ The Truth Leaves People Completely Stunned
6 Charts Reveal China’s Local Government Debt Problems
Iphone 15 Sales In China Are Worse Than Iphone 14
Another Economic Problem For China: Commercial Real Estate Downturn

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=oNoZ8yNc3T8

***********
What This $100B Ghost City Reveals About China’s Property Crisis | WSJ
The Wall Street Journal
4.76M subscribers
Sep 11, 2023

"Country Garden, once seen as one of China’s most stable property developers, is now struggling financially, leaving the future of unfinished megadevelopments like the $100 billion Forest City in doubt.

The real estate project in southern Malaysia was planned to house around 700,000 people, but only 9,000 people live there with most units left empty. So why are Chinese real estate companies like the Evergrande Group and Sunac falling into financial distress?

WSJ explains why China’s real estate developers are in the red.

0:00 Forest City
0:48 China’s real estate market
2:56 What’s next? "

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=D0PxRxwTa50

(Another BIG problem not mentioned here is that typically Chinese construction is deplorably shabby and unsafe, actually falling apart soon after building. )

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
This fascinating interview with Alex from Reporterfly (which I was NOT well-equipped to fully understand) was aired live on The Duran yesterday. This might be the best thread for it that we have, though it's not about the banks going belly up: it's about everything going belly up — starting with the imminent implosion of the derivative market, possibly triggered by the rise in natural gas prices this winter.

The market spot price of natural gas today is $3.12. When it nears $4, Alex states, as he suspects it will do quite soon, everything will come down.

We've seen many 'sky-is-falling' warnings about the precarious state of the global financial system, but this video is so apocalyptic all the others pale in comparison. It'd be easy to dismiss, if it didn't all sound so very serious and plausible.

Derivatives and the Coming Collapse

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=sAErqW7vj7Y

~~~

Here's the price of natural gas, as of the last week. It spiked well over $4 a couple days ago, and is now hovering steadily around that level.

If Alex's confident prediction is anywhere close (see above highlighted in red), that suggests that the collapse may quite soon now be on its way.



Edit to add:

The year-to-date chart, showing the steady increase towards $4.00:

[Michel Leclerc]

Thank you for this, Bill. It is of the utmost importance.

***

In this context, I would like to share a little anecdote.

One of my communication consulting company’s early customers used to be a local Belgian bank, which at around the millennium changeover became a local branch of one of the larger international banks.

At the end of the 90s I was entrusted with a new coachee, who had a rather mysterious job description – and, more mysteriously even, occupied a top-floor office right above the CEO’s office. We will call him Mr X. (Allow me to anonymise or “white-lie-ise” a few elements for everybody’s benefit.)

Mr X was German-speaking and I was tasked to bring his French (which was quite good) up to perfect “international” levels, using our celebrated “turbo” techniques for high-end-IQ-ers. (Playing not a language teaching, but a language learning coaching role.)

His rectangular office was at the building’s angle; two sides were inner walls, two sides glass windows. Mr X sat with his back to the wider inner wall, facing the beautiful external city landscape, and me, who sat opposite him. Behind his back, occupying almost the entire inner wall (maybe six to eight meters wide) were floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. As I sat I could not help scanning the books – it is quite customary to encounter, in a top executive team member’s office, mind you: five books, or ten books, or maybe even twelve – almost all devoted to the latest management consulting mantra, waiting to be pulped as soon as the next craze floods the world of keeping “business”.

I looked at him (he was middle-aged), noticing that he had been studying me. He smiled and said, with a twinkle in his eyes (this is not me attempting to tell a story, I really noticed it at the time): “Quite a number of books, is it not, Mr Leclerc?”

Probably he had correctly guessed the approximate truth, i.e. that at our modest offices, and at my own and my partner’s homes there were similar walls, and hence even my answer:

“Well, I am familiar with such quantities of books, but not with this library’s subject matter..”

— because they were, as far as I could see, all devoted to finance and higher mathematics..

“They are indeed rather specialised,”, he said, and then presented himself for the next 10 to 15 minutes…

***

What he said amounted to the following.

He was a top-level mathematician and finance theorist, and actually worked not for our customer, but for the international bank that our customer was a branch of.

“Do you know what derivatives are?”, he asked me. I understandably did not.

And then he explained it, briefly, in a way that I could understand probably, basically saying that they were bundles of bad debts being “ensured” (he used the same term as the derivative trader does in the conference) through selling them on another, “derived”, market — as in the world of reinsurance, which I was a bit more familiar with – but with the caveat that they were not “bad debts” of final customers, as when you and I are defaulting on our mortgage payments, but gigantic bundles of bad debts at the level of middle-sized to major banks and insurance companies, trading banks etc. One might say: Tower-of-Babel like, or ziggurat-like bundles becoming a new product, which itself at its level enters into a new bundle, which then etc.

I then probably asked for a confirmation of my obvious supposition that he was involved with this “new kind of financial instrument”.

“Yes”, he said, “I developed it – with a few other specialists – from other major financial institutions – in Europe, in America.”

I knew what a Ponzi scheme was, and may have asked him something like:

“Where does it end? Is there a final level, a ceiling to this derivation?”

To which he replied that no, there was not really an end to it – “at least not of a financial nature” – we now know what that means, don’t we? – “and that is why I am here”.

Again, I do not intend to write a nice little story. It was literally what he said.

He explained (I paraphrase) that he had withdrawn from the developing team “because he felt, and was, unable to contribute to solving the issues raised by the financial instruments concerned” – and added in the best French he could muster:

“so they decided to park me here” — park was his word (garer).. –, “so that I could devote my abilities to a different kind of study and development”.

Was he being ironical? Anyhow, they had bought him off because he knew an embarrassing lot. Financially safe for the rest of his life – in exchange for his silence.

***

His silence. But then he had talked to me. Being the confessor has been the role I have quite a few times had to play in my life. However, when the coachee confesses the things that really gnaw at his/her soul, the relationship with the coach changes.

This was not different. The conversation switched to the planning of our mutual commitment – but the assignment never materialised. Requests for an agenda could not be met by his secretary :“you know Michel, Mr. X is very busy, I have not seen him for more than a month now..” I did not see him anymore, nowhere, not in the cafetaria, not in his office. From where I could have scanned the office interrior, I was unable to see whether the wall was still covered with rows and rows of specialist books.

Maybe he had only needed to tell his story once, and then could disappear. Where to, and how?

I told this story to friends. No one seemed to understand the implications.


p.s.: I added/modified a few words, to get closer to the truth of what I recall

[norman]

Posted by Michel Leclerc (here)
No one seemed to understand the implications.

The room was bugged ?

[Michel Leclerc]

...no
...?
You recall that when derivatives became a cocktail party talk topic (at least a few years later), admiration for the ingeniousness of those "financial wizards" was always in the mix – warning signs became predominant at about… what? 2006, 2007?

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/UnicusResearch/status/1874866620734341120

Text:

2. According to a latest S&P report, the banking industry's auto loan delinquency ratio rose to 3.13% from 3.05% in the previous quarter and 2.95% in the prior-year period. Delinquent auto loans totaled $16.18 billion, up from $15.81 billion at June 30 and $15.89 billion at Sept. 30, 2023.

https://x.com/UnicusResearch/status/1874866628204036413

https://x.com/UnicusResearch/status/1874866634596499678

https://x.com/UnicusResearch/status/1874866640049012904

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/NewRulesGeo/status/1879529793206800710

https://x.com/NewRulesGeo/status/1879529800936620204

https://x.com/NewRulesGeo/status/1879529808553713956

https://x.com/NewRulesGeo/status/1879529816485155016

https://x.com/NewRulesGeo/status/1879529824689287356

[shaberon]

Posted by Michel Leclerc (here)
No one seemed to understand the implications.

Perhaps along the lines of "unintended consequences"?

That's my issue with most of the brilliant schemes that are cooked up behind closed doors. They have a tendency to "win the battle. lose the war".

It's why I recommend the material from Michael Hudson. He designed Bretton Woods. It's very similar to what you just described, except it is in New York City with David Rockefeller, and goes on far longer.

It's very similar to treaties by map-makers and other types of imposed conditions.

The man who has the power today is too Stupid to make a better future.

"Derivatives" are a third- or fourth-generation by-product of "imaginary finance". Today, it's "re-hypothecated derivatives".

What is this, but the sin of profit and gain, the heart of Capitalism. It's an artificial process, opened in London, 1694, which is terrified of you breathing a word of "alternatives", such as any other economic system, like transformed China in about twenty years. We have to demonize them, or they will call out all the phony stuff.

I'm already beat to nothing, soaring energy costs will Germanize the rest of the "bloc", and yes, we believe this is the main thing that will make Americans revolt. Meaning that they will steal and destroy everything.

Germany has been stagnant since the American occupation. The only growth is immigration. The only progress is the kind posted above.

After all, it was just a milch cow to feed Israel, and since that sum was paid in about sixty years, there is no need for it.

[Ravenlocke]

https://asiaontheway.com/vietnam-86m...n-to-be-closed

Vietnam: 86M Bank Accounts Soon to Be Closed
Starting September 2025, Vietnam will shut down 86M inactive or non-biometric bank accounts. Expats and travelers: here’s what you need to know.

Starting September 1, 2025, Vietnam will close over 86 million inactive or non-biometric bank accounts. A sweeping move that fits into the country’s digital transformation… and could directly affect expats, travelers, and freelancers.

Why this decision?

Vietnam has nearly 200 million bank accounts opened.

Many are inactive, dormant, or used fraudulently.

To protect the financial system, the State Bank of Vietnam now mandates biometric authentication (via VNeID or chip-based ID card).

Result: only about 113 million personal accounts and 711,000 organizational accounts will remain active after the clean-up.

The introduction of biometrics and VNeID

To address these risks:

Banks now require biometric authentication (fingerprint or facial recognition), linked to the VNeID (official digital identity) or chip ID card.

Only accounts that are verified and compliant will stay open. This requires updating the data through branch visits or mobile apps, or linking the account to VNeID.

Consequence: a digital “spring cleaning”

After this sorting process:

Of the nearly 200 million accounts, just around 113 million personal accounts and 711,000 business/organization accounts will remain.

Roughly 86 million accounts, or 43 %, will be closed for inactivity, fraud risk, or lack of biometric authentication.

What to expect in Vietnam

The banking sector aims to clean up its client database, boost trust, and prepare the ground for a digital expansion (e-payments, online services…).

As of July 2025, fraud and loss cases reportedly dropped by more than 50 %, according to the State Bank.

Individuals and businesses must comply to keep access to their accounts and online services.

Is Vietnam becoming a regional pioneer?

These policies make Vietnam one of Asia’s most advanced countries in integrating biometrics and digital identity into retail banking, similar to recent moves in Thailand.

Another step toward a “cashless” society

Cashless payments are surging: in 2024, the value of digital transactions exceeded 26 times Vietnam’s GDP.

A digital VAT (effective July 2025) encourages non-cash payments.

Since biometrics started, fraud victims have dropped by 57 %.

In short, Vietnam is pushing hard toward a cashless society.

Who is affected?

Accounts that were never used or are dormant.

Accounts opened with outdated or invalid documents.

Accounts lacking biometric authentication.

If you’re an expat, long-term traveler, or digital nomad, now’s the time to check your account status.

Expats, digital nomads, long-term travelers: beware!

Non-residents and foreign residents must complete biometric verification. This often requires going to a branch with a valid passport or ID, depending on the account type.

Check your account status in the banking app or contact your bank ASAP. If unsure, proactively update your ID and complete biometric verification in branch or via official channels.

Summary

Neglecting these obligations risks immediate account block or permanent closure, cutting off access to funds and banking services—even for foreigners.

What to do to avoid surprises

Contact your bank to check if your account is compliant.

Update your personal information and complete biometric authentication.

Activate your account by making a recent transaction (even nominal).

Have a backup plan: open a new account (local or international), or use e-wallets to maintain financial access if needed.

Steps to take now

Contact your bank (phone, email, or branch) to verify compliance and requirements for biometric verification.

Update your documents: valid ID (passport, residency card, visa), current address, phone number, and personal status.

Complete biometric verification: visit a branch for facial or fingerprint scans, or use your bank’s mobile app if supported—this is crucial for compliance.

Make a transaction: a small transfer or payment signals that the account is active and reduces risk of automatic closure.

Prepare a Plan B

Consider alternatives: open a new account with another local bank, an international neobank (Wise, Revolut, etc.), or use e-wallets (MoMo, ZaloPay, ShopeePay…) to keep managing funds and transferring money if needed.

Practical tips for expats and travelers

Test if your banking app still works after September 1.

If you rely on a local account for salary or rent, update your details immediately.

Use widely adopted e-wallets (MoMo, ZaloPay, VNPay)—convenient and growing fast.

Always maintain an international fallback (Wise, Revolut, etc.) for emergencies.

What happens to money in closed accounts?

If a closed account has a positive balance, the bank is legally required to return the funds to the account holder or heirs. If the owner doesn’t respond, funds are handled according to legal procedures, which can take months.

Dormant accounts may accrue fees until the balance reaches zero, at which point they’re formally closed.

Vietnamese bank accounts: heading toward an IBAN?

Since the announcement of over 86 million inactive accounts getting closed as of September 2025, a frequent question from expats and travelers is: will Vietnamese banks adopt an IBAN like in Europe?

What is an IBAN?
The International Bank Account Number (IBAN) is used in the SEPA zone and elsewhere to identify accounts in transfers. It includes country code, account number, and sometimes bank code.

How does it work in Vietnam today?
Vietnam does not use IBANs. Transfers rely on:

A local account number

A SWIFT code for international transfers

Bank-specified details
Example: to transfer from France to Vietnam, you need the SWIFT code (e.g., BIDVVNVX for BIDV) plus your account number.

Does the new law change anything?
No, biometric account closures do not introduce an IBAN. They aim to standardize services, digitize payment methods, and secure transactions—but there’s no IBAN rollout scheduled for 2025.

Towards international compatibility?
Even without IBANs, Vietnam is pushing for banking interoperability:

Card payments (Visa, Mastercard) are expanding

E-wallets (MoMo, ZaloPay, VNPay) are booming

Potential future alignment with SEPA-like standards might pave the way for an “Asian IBAN” or regional norm.

Practical advice for expats:

Always note your SWIFT code and account number.

Request a “bank confirmation letter” from your bank detailing account information.

Compare international transfer fees (BNP, Société Générale, ING, etc.).

Use low-cost options like Wise or Revolut to reduce fees.

Conclusion

No, this new law does not grant Vietnamese accounts an IBAN.
However, it paves the way for a more modern, secure, and globally compatible banking system.
For expats, this means staying informed, keeping records, and being ready for international transfers with the right codes.

❓ FAQ – Everything you need to know about opening and managing a bank account in Vietnam

The rest of the article here,

https://asiaontheway.com/vietnam-86m...n-to-be-closed

[Ravenlocke]

Armstrong Econimics,

Vietnam has erased and/or frozen 86 million unverified bank accounts as the nation surrenders to the globalist Great Reset. Anyone wishing to function in society must surrender their biometric data to maintain a bank account. https://zurl.co/XI4hS

https://x.com/StrongEconomics/status...41887676072388

https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/i...set-in-motion/

Vietnam Erases 86 Million Bank Accounts – The Great Reset in Motion
Posted Sep 9, 2025 by Martin Armstrong |

Vietnam has erased and/or frozen 86 million unverified bank accounts as the nation surrenders to the globalist Great Reset. Anyone wishing to function in society must surrender their biometric data to maintain a bank account. The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) claims that the measure was a system cleanup aimed at preventing fraud. In actuality, the measure is one step closer toward a national ID system that enables the government to control its citizens’ every move.

“This is a data-cleansing revolution,” said Pham Anh Tuan, Director of the Payment Department. “While the total number of bank accounts remains 200 million, by September 2025, once the legal framework is complete, all accounts without biometric data will be closed to prevent scams and fraud. After seven years of promoting non-cash payments, we are moving toward real efficiency.”

Vietnam recently implemented a nationwide digital ID (e-ID) system called VNeID that requires both citizens and foreign residents to surrender to the matrix and permit the government to store their personal information in a centralized database. Fingerprints, facial biometric data, photographs, passports, nationality, criminal records, and even medical records will be stored in the government database. Participation is not optional.

Project 06 launched in January 2022, hailed as a technological revolution to digitize the country. Project 06’s full name is the “Project on Developing Data Applications on Population, Identification, and Electronic Authentication to Serve National Digital Transformation in the 2022-2025 Period (Vision 2030),” which aligns entirely with the World Economic Forum’s plans for the Great Reset. The concept has been sold to the people as a convenience measure, but in truth, the aim is centralized, unrestrained control over the entire population.

Everything from banking to renting an apartment is linked to the digital ID. One wrong move and the government can completely erase someone from the system. One glitch in the power grid and the nation will come to a standstill. The Vietnamese government has the power to halt a person’s life instantaneously.

High-level Vietnamese officials met in Davos in January 2025, and shortly after, began voicing concern for bank accounts that were unverified through biometric data. Vietnam has been actively seeking OECD membership and signed a Memorandum of Understanding, citing that Project 06 will enable the nation to meet the OECD’s guidelines for regulatory reforms. Vietnam was one of the last nations disconnected from the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) that requires members to share banking information under the pretense of preventing tax evasion.

Vietnam signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (MAAC) with the OECD in March 2023, enabling automatic exchange of tax and financial information with over 146 jurisdictions. In early 2025, shortly after Davos, Vietnam joined the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) for Country-by-Country Reporting (CbCR), broadening its commitment to AEOI and international tax transparency. In February 2025, Vietnam activated CbCR exchange relationships with 29 jurisdictions including the entire European Union.

Globalist entities defy democracy and demand the complete surrender of national sovereignty under the belief that the world population must be controlled by one centralized force. The majority of world leaders have willingly surrendered, unaware of the full extent of power a small unelected few will yield if the Great Reset succeeds.


https://vietnamnet.vn/en/vietnam-to-...r-2407820.html


Vietnam to close 86 million inactive bank accounts by September

Vietnam will close tens of millions of unverifiable bank accounts by September 2025 under new digital payment regulations.

At a press conference for the 2025 “Cashless Day” held on June 2, Pham Anh Tuan, Director of the Payment Department at the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), said the central bank has been actively strengthening legal and institutional frameworks to support the development of cashless payments.

With legal backing from the SBV and investments in payment infrastructure, non-cash payments have seen tremendous growth. In 2024, the total value of non-cash transactions reached over 295.2 quadrillion VND (approx. $11.57 trillion), 26 times the GDP. By the end of 2024, 86.97% of citizens aged 15 and above had bank accounts.

Compared to 2023 (87.08%), this represents a slight decline, which Mr. Tuan attributed to the ongoing data cleansing and biometric verification process.

Vietnam previously recorded 200 million bank accounts nationwide. After verification, only 113 million personal accounts and over 711,000 organizational accounts are considered active.

“This is a data-cleansing revolution,” said Tuan. “While the total number of bank accounts remains 200 million, by September 2025, once the legal framework is complete, all accounts without biometric data will be closed to prevent scams and fraud. After seven years of promoting non-cash payments, we are moving toward real efficiency.”

According to the General Statistics Office (now part of the Ministry of Finance), as of December 31, 2024, Vietnam had over 69 million adults aged 15 and above. More than 68 million of them had bank accounts, highlighting how far cashless payment adoption has come.

Tuan also noted that the 2025 “Cashless Day,” now in its seventh year, carries the theme “Non-cash payments driving digital economic development.” The event underscores that digital payments are more than just a transaction method - they are a strategic foundation connecting all sectors of the digital economy.

Cashless payments, he said, form the core of a seamless and evolving digital ecosystem, helping Vietnam move toward a modern, transparent, and inclusive economy.

TÀI TRỢ

In line with the national plan on developing cashless payments for the 2021–2025 period (under Decision No. 1813 by the Prime Minister), the SBV has closely collaborated with ministries, local authorities, and stakeholders to build legal frameworks, adopt new technologies, and innovate service models. This has led to a safer, more secure, and more user-friendly payment environment, enhancing customer experience and accelerating the transition to a cashless society.
During the first quarter of 2025, the interbank electronic payment system processed over 35.6 million transactions worth 81.47 quadrillion VND (approx. $3.19 trillion), up 9.6% in volume and 36.81% in value year-over-year.

Non-cash transactions rose 44.43% year-over-year, with Internet banking growing by 40.41%, mobile payments by 39.82%, and QR code transactions by 81.64%.

Vietnam now has nearly 10.4 million Mobile Money accounts, over 72% of which are held by users in rural, remote, and border areas.

As of March 31, 2025, there were 47 licensed e-wallet service providers, with about 30.27 million active e-wallets - representing 65.8% of the 46 million e-wallets issued - holding a total balance exceeding 2.8 trillion VND (approx. $110 million).

To ensure data security and transaction safety, the SBV has worked with the Ministry of Public Security to implement Government Project 06. So far, data for around 57 million loan applicants has been verified against the National Population Database, and biometric data for more than 111.8 million individuals has been cross-checked.

[shaberon]

The issue for Vietnam would be:


Is it retaining a sovereign currency?

If it's *theirs*, they can handle it however they want.

The problem in the early industrializing United States was that banks would run out of cash. The solution wound up being the Federal Reserve System. I don't like it because this is private cash owned by an agency; it's not state money.

Circulated coinage arose in Lydia around 600 B. C. E., and rolled out to replace a mostly cashless credit system which was how everyone lived. The idea of money may still be experimental, but I would say it is a mistake to drop this privilege into private hands who will extract the wealth and sneer at their underlings. That is why China heavily restricts private banking. You can personally gamble on something if you are prepared to face the loss. You don't get everyone's welfare tied into 401ks that in turn are susceptible to wipeout by multiple factors.

I haven't noticed these 2030 ideas to quite uphold the "level of threat" in places like Moscow because it doesn't come across as so total. These are independent processes because the WEF has no enforcement authority at all.

Cash as we know it is perhaps the most unclean affair of the day. If it was all coins, I suppose we could wash it. The stuff is just something artificial, not a part of nature, so like laws and countries it is just subject to change until we find that working formula. By "we", I mean someone else.