Three Vietnamese banks introduced or revised account fees in quick succession in August. Local outlet Kenh14 reported the news on August 3, covering MSB (Hang Hai Commercial Bank), ACB (Asia Commercial Bank), and VIETBANK (Vietnam Thuong Tin Bank). Short-term travelers are barely affected, but residents living and working with a local account, and anyone using SMS notifications through a Vietnamese company, will see real costs. Which accounts, how much, and from when? Here's a rundown with yen conversions, along with the points to check and ways to avoid the charges.
The yen conversions in this article are calculated using 10,000 dong ≈ 60 yen(1 dong ≈ 0.006 yen, based on early August 2026 rates). Exchange rates move daily, so treat these as rough guides.
MSB: From August 20, 20,000 dong (about 120 yen) per month for accounts left dormant for 12 months
The bank most likely to affect the largest number of residents is MSB. On its digital account app “TNEX,”accounts with no deposits or withdrawals made by the user for 12 consecutive monthswill be charged a 20,000 dong (about 120 yen, VAT included) monthly management fee starting August 20. The fee is collected on the 20th of each month.
The key point is that it's judged by whether the user themselves moved the account. System-driven movements like automatic loan repayments, interest deposits, or automatic fee deductions don't count as “activity.” In other words, it's aimed squarely at “dormant” accounts with no salary, transfers, or direct debits at all. Flip that around, though, andsending a transfer or payment from TNEX yourself even once a month is enough to avoid the fee. Anyone who has moved back to Japan but kept the account open, or who has left an unused secondary account dormant, should either use it once before August 20 or decide to close it.
ACB's 5,500 dong fee only applies when “all three conditions” are met
ACB revised its international debit card fee schedule starting in August, addinga charge of 5,500 dong (about 33 yen, VAT included) per failed payment transaction. Read just the headline and it sounds like “you get charged every time a payment fails,” but in reality it only applies when all three of the following overlap.
- The failed payment is at a digital advertising or digital service merchant such as Google or TikTok
- The card's total spending for the month is under 3,000,000 dong (about 18,000 yen)
- The same card has 30 or more declined transactions in that month
Failures count as cases such as insufficient balance in the linked account, exceeding the spending limit, or a suspended card. The target is the situation where a low-usage card gets rejected dozens of times by overseas services — essentially a failed subscription-signup retry loop. If you suspect your card keeps getting declined for ad spend or app charges, the practical fix is to stop leaving automatic retries running against an insufficient balance.
VIETBANK's SMS notifications switch to usage-based pricing in October, capped at 200,000 dong (about 1,200 yen)
What VIETBANK changed is the pricing for itscorporatebalance-change SMS notification service. The target is company accounts rather than personal accounts, so this applies to people running a business in Vietnam. First, for August and September, it's a flat 50,000 dong (about 300 yen, excluding VAT) per month. And thenusage-based pricing tied to the number of messages sent, starting October 1takes over.
| Monthly SMS count | Fee (excluding VAT) | Approximate yen conversion |
|---|---|---|
| 0–30 messages | 50,000 dong | About 300 yen |
| Over 30 messages | 50,000 dong + 800 dong per message over the limit | About 300 yen + about 5 yen per message |
| Cap | 200,000 dong / month | About 1,200 yen |
The more transactions a corporate account has, the more notifications pile up, so from October some accounts will likely hit the 1,200-yen monthly cap. Where a bank app's push notifications can substitute, turning off SMS to cut costs is also a reasonable option.
All three banks share a design where “small and dormant” works against you
Lined up side by side, the three banks' aims look similar. MSB targets accounts that never move, ACB targets low-spend cards that keep generating errors, and VIETBANK targets companies leaving notifications running non-stop. In every case, it's a design thatcollects thin, broad fees from “small, dormant, retry-prone” accounts. On a related note, Vietnam has blocked online transactions on accounts without completed biometric verification since January 2026, and this account “stocktaking” has continued since. The new fees are an extension of that same trend.
The practical steps for identity verification to keep your Vietnamese account from being frozen are covered in detail inYour account freezes without face verification: a biometric checkup for Vietnam residents. It's worth checking alongside this article.
3 things residents should check this week
- Do you have an unused MSB / TNEX account? Decide before August 20 whether to make one deposit or withdrawal a month, or to close the account.
- Has your ACB international debit card kept getting payment errors while spending stays low? Stop automatic retries against an insufficient balance early.
- Are you using SMS notifications on a VIETBANK corporate account? With usage-based pricing starting in October, consider switching to app notifications.
Each individual charge is only a matter of tens to a few hundred yen, but the more an account or card is left unattended, the more it quietly adds up. For whether cards can be used for payment and other local payment methods, see Can You Use Credit Cards in Vietnam? Where They Work and What to Watch For, and for preparing cash, see Recommended Ways to Exchange Money in Vietnam as well. All three banks have published their official fee schedules through their apps or in branches this time, so the safest approach is to check the official rate for your own account type (personal or corporate, and which app you use).
Sources
- Kenh14, “Khách hàng MSB, ACB, VIETBANK chú ý: Từ tháng 8, phí dịch vụ chuyển tiền có sự thay đổi” (August 3, 2026)https://kenh14.vn/khach-hang-msb-acb-vietbank-chu-y-tu-thang-8-phi-dich-vu-chuyen-tien-co-su-thay-doi-215260803115337893.chn
- CafeF「Từ tháng 8/2026, ngân hàng sẽ thu phí một số giao dịch thanh toán không thành công」https://cafef.vn/tu-thang-8-2026-ngan-hang-se-thu-phi-mot-so-giao-dich-thanh-toan-khong-thanh-cong-188260727110810807.chn
- CafeF「Từ 20/8, những tài khoản ngân hàng sau sẽ bị tự động trừ 20.000 đồng/tháng」https://cafef.vn/tu-20-8-nhung-tai-khoan-ngan-hang-sau-se-bi-tu-dong-tru-20000-dong-thang-188260731075142586.chn
