Lunar New Year gift money, grandparents’ gifts and education savings are often the first assets held in a child’s name in Vietnam. Banks open accounts and savings books for minors through their legal representatives, and how the account operates changes with the child’s age under banking rules and the Civil Code 91/2015/QH13.
At what age may a child hold a bank account?
Vietnamese banks allow payment accounts and savings books for minors to be opened through the parents or guardian as legal representatives, with the child’s birth certificate and the representative’s identity papers. Older children — commonly from age 15 with their own identity documents — may open and personally use certain account types within each bank’s product limits, matching the Civil Code 91/2015/QH13 rule that persons from 15 to under 18 may transact with their own property within statutory bounds. Ask the bank directly about ages and account types because product policies differ between banks.
Saving a child’s gift money: whose money is it?
Where the savings book is in the child’s name, the money belongs to the child as separate property, with the parents merely managing it as legal representatives under the Civil Code 91/2015/QH13. That has practical consequences: money in a child’s book is not the spouses’ joint property to divide at divorce, and using it for purposes unrelated to the child can be challenged later. If the parents simply want a family reserve, a book in the parents’ names is legally cleaner; if the money is deliberately gifted to the child, keep the book in the child’s name and record the sources.
Does the child need the parents to withdraw money?
For accounts and savings books opened when the child was young, withdrawals are made or consented to by the legal representative, and the bank verifies representation documents at the counter. An older child transacts personally within the account scope and age band the bank permits from age 15, but large transactions or closing a child’s savings book still commonly require the representative’s participation. At 18, account control passes entirely to the child and the bank updates the account holder information to the new identity documents.
Practical steps: decide clearly whether the deposit is the child’s property or the family’s common money before choosing the book holder’s name, because that choice governs how the money is treated at divorce, at inheritance and when the child reaches majority.
Frequently Asked Questions
At what age can a child open an account?
Banks open accounts and savings books for a child through the parents or guardian as legal representatives; from age 15 a child may personally use some accounts under each bank’s policy, matching the transaction-capacity framework of the Civil Code 91/2015/QH13.
Can gift money be saved for the child?
Yes, and where the book is in the child’s name the money is the child’s separate property managed by the parents as representatives under the Civil Code 91/2015/QH13 — not the spouses’ joint property at divorce. For general family savings, a book in the parents’ names is cleaner.
Does a child need parents to withdraw money?
For accounts opened when the child was young, withdrawals are made or consented to by the legal representative and the bank checks representation papers. From 15 a child transacts within the bank’s permitted scope; at 18 full control passes to the child.
