Team size: 60

What are the most significant cases or transactions that you have been involved in over the past year?

Procurement activities, especially procurement of IT goods and services of credit institutions, have common characteristics of being complicated and lengthy. Legal aspects of such procurement contracts must ensure the regulations of the State Bank of Vietnam while need to harmonizie the rights and interests of the participating parties. Realising that need, I organised my Team to work closely with the IT Department and the Purchasing Unit at the Company to reach consensus on organising procurement contracts for IT goods and services. We gathered points that often arise from the need for negotiation and disputes in practice in order to build and amend contracts. After that, we drafted a set of new IT goods and services procurement model contracts. The model contracts have no more than 4 pages, while other the main legal terms are integrated into a T&C for IT procurement posted on the website, applicable to all IT suppliers. After implementation, the contract negotiation process has been shortened and saves a lot of human resources for all relevant parties.

In Vietnam, a large portion of customers of consumer credit finance companies are those who do not meet the criterias and conditions to access loans from commercial banks. Not having bank accounts or for various other reasons, this group of customers has a great need to borrow and receive disbursement in cash. If consumer credit finance companies only cooperate with banks, which have license for collection and payment (including in cash), the market coverage will not be high. In 2024, my Team and I have consulted, worked, and successfully negotiated with a partner providing supporting services for collection and payment to successfully apply a special cooperation model, helping customers to receive disbursements in cash at a network of partners across the country. As far as I know, there are not many companies in the market that can resolve this issue.

Based on your experience, what is the key to collaborating successfully with business partners?

It’s the respect for the interests of each other. I have spent many years observing and comparing senior and junior legal practitioners. I find that juniors tend to protect the interests of their organisations in the highest and strictest way, while seniors flexibly apply legal regulations to harmonise the interests of all parties on a win-win basis. Most juniors’ concerns during negotiations rarely occur in practice and often overlook important legal points. Meanwhile, seniors, based on their long-term experience, will know how to consider which points are keys, and what limits need to be achieved to harmonise the interests of both parties. The negotiation results of seniors will often shorten the time, not bring discomfort to the parties and create good relationships. Therefore, I believe that respecting the interests of all parties, sharing risks and harmonising interests are the keys to good cooperation with business partners and in the legal negotiation process.

Which political, economic or regulatory changes have impacted your work the most in the past year?

The Law on Credit Institutions 2024, Decree No. 13/2023/ND-CP on protection of personal data, and a series of Circulars issued by the State Bank of Vietnam have immediately impacted credit institutions, especially specialised financial companies. The new changes in the legal documents have posed challenges for specialised financial companies in organising and implementing their operations. However, this is also an opportunity to flexibly apply legal regulations to new business models, especially models that apply technology and are based on information-sharing basis.

Apart from legal matters, has the team worked on other company initiatives you would like to highlight?

My current company is vigorously implementing the establishment of corporate culture. The Company Leaders have summarised it into a Statement called MC1688 (One vision, six core values, eight strategic directions and eight effective working methods). My team has proactively studied such initiative and converted it into our own statement on effective working motto. This statement is widely communicated within the Company so all units can know and supervise the working methods of the Legal & Compliance Division. After that, I realize that the Team’s working methods and orientations have closely followed the Company’s goals, are proactive and create efficiency in internal coordination.