IFC Executive and Supervisory Bodies: The One-Stop Management Model and Investor Complaint Mechanisms

Vietnam international financial centre does not operate like an economic zone run by a local government. Resolution 222/2025/QH15 builds a separate three-body architecture — executive, supervisory and dispute resolution — acting independently inside the centre, and this is what an investor must grasp before asking “which door do I knock on”.

Governing Instruments

The three-body architecture under Article 9 of Resolution 222/2025

Article 9 of Resolution 222/2025/QH15 provides that the organisations within the International Financial Centre comprise three systems: the Executive Body, which directly manages and runs all activities in the centre; the Supervisory Body, which supervises, inspects, examines, prevents and handles violations in financial activities in the centre; and the Dispute Resolution Body within the centre. These bodies act independently within the powers assigned by the Resolution and its implementing texts, and are not subordinated to the local government where the centre sits — state management inside the centre must ensure the centre independence, and the executive and supervisory bodies are organised leanly and apply special administrative procedures.

At the establishment layer, the Government issued a decree detailing Articles 8 and 9 of the Resolution on founding the centre: the centre is a single legal entity operating at two locations, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang; its Operating Regulations are approved by the Executive Council, take general effect and apply uniformly at both locations; and all standards, regulations, processes, business forms and licensing criteria are issued uniformly and applied simultaneously at both locations. This design prevents the two IFC sites from running two different rulebooks.

One-stop handling and dispute resolution inside the centre

The IFC one-stop model is understood through the Executive Body function: it is the direct management focal point, issuing and applying the Operating Regulations to resolve matters within them, and receiving and processing procedures for members and investors under special administrative procedures instead of leaving investors to visit each sector regulator as outside the centre. Which matters are resolved at the one stop and which remain with sector authorities will be specified in the Operating Regulations and guidance texts — at the time of writing, investors should check the centre current regulations rather than infer from economic-zone models.

For disputes, the Resolution makes the Dispute Resolution Body a separate pillar of the architecture: the International Arbitration Centre within the centre operates independently from the existing Vietnamese adjudication system, members may choose dispute resolution at this centre, and its awards are final and enforceable. This is the channel for commercial disputes between members; complaints against decisions of the centre own management bodies follow administrative complaint and administrative litigation mechanisms under general law, nested within the specific rules of the Operating Regulations.

Application Analysis

The question investors often ask — who supervises banking and securities inside the IFC — has a two-layer answer. The in-centre layer: the IFC Supervisory Body supervises, inspects and handles violations for financial activities within the centre scope under the powers the Resolution assigns. The national sector layer: banking remains attached to the State Bank of Vietnam, securities to the Ministry of Finance and the State Securities Commission — Article 9 of the Resolution sets a coordination mechanism between the centre bodies and central authorities. The detailed boundary between the layers (what the IFC supervisory body handles directly, what is referred to sector regulators) depends on guidance texts and coordination regulations; this article assigns no detailed competence where no text exists yet, and investors should ask the centre for a written competence map before registering as members.

Against the familiar economic-zone management board model, the fundamental differences are independence and uniformity: IFC bodies do not belong to the city People Committee, the regulations apply commonly to both locations, and the promotion function (executive) is separated from the supervision function to avoid conflicts of interest — a design comparable to successful international financial centres. What investors should watch in the early operating phase is the pace at which the Operating Regulations and concrete one-stop procedures are issued, because the model value lies in those operating documents, not in the organisation chart.

Recommended Actions

Before member registration, request from the Executive Body the current Operating Regulations and the competence map between centre bodies and national sector regulators.
Identify the one-stop focal point for each procedure group of the project (member registration, activity licensing, labour, land) and record it in the internal compliance plan.
Insert a clause choosing the International Arbitration Centre at the IFC into contracts with in-centre counterparties from the start, instead of defaulting to courts.
Set an internal process for receiving and answering IFC Supervisory Body requests (deadlines, responsible person, file retention) as with sector regulators.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which bodies run and supervise the International Financial Centre in Vietnam?

Under Article 9 of Resolution 222/2025/QH15, the centre comprises the Executive Body (directly managing and running all activities), the Supervisory Body (supervising, inspecting, examining, preventing and handling violations in financial activities) and the Dispute Resolution Body. These bodies act independently within their assigned powers and are not subordinated to local government; the Operating Regulations are approved by the Executive Council and apply uniformly at both the Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang locations.

How does the one-stop management model at the IFC operate for investors?

The Executive Body is the direct management focal point: it receives and processes procedures for members and investors under special administrative procedures based on the centre Operating Regulations, instead of the investor dealing in turn with each sector authority as outside the centre. The specific catalogue of procedures handled at the one stop is determined by the Operating Regulations and guidance texts for each operating phase, so investors should check the current regulations when planning procedures.

Through which mechanism does an investor complain about a decision of the IFC management bodies?

Two matter types must be distinguished: commercial disputes with in-centre counterparties go to the Dispute Resolution Body — the International Arbitration Centre at the centre, whose awards are final; while complaints against administrative decisions of the centre management bodies follow the complaint and administrative litigation mechanisms of Vietnamese law, combined with specific rules in the Operating Regulations. In both cases, the decision file and minutes of dealings with the executive body are foundational evidence to retain from the outset.

Which sector authorities supervise banking and securities activities inside the IFC?

In two layers: the centre Supervisory Body supervises, inspects and handles violations for financial activities within the centre scope; at the same time banking remains attached to the State Bank of Vietnam and securities to the Ministry of Finance and the State Securities Commission under the coordination mechanism set by Resolution 222/2025. The detailed allocation of each matter type between the layers is specified in guidance texts and coordination regulations, so credit institutions and securities companies should confirm the competence map for their sector before entering the centre.