Vietnam's stock market will continue to boom, creating great attraction for investors.

July 28, 2025 marks the 25th anniversary of the Vietnamese stock market's official operation. On this special occasion, Dau Tu Electronic Newspaper - Baodautu.vn had an interview with Mr. Truong Hien Phuong, Senior Director, KIS Vietnam Securities Joint Stock Company about the journey so far and expectations for the new development journey.

VN-INDEX WILL GO FURTHER

The Vietnamese stock market has gone through 25 years of operation with many big changes. What is your most memorable memory since joining the stock market until now?

Looking back, I entered the stock market in 2006, when Vietnam had just signed the Protocol to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) , and have been involved in the market for nearly 20 years. Immediately after that, the market exploded in 2007 and fell into recession in the first quarter of 2008 due to the impact of the global financial crisis.

I still have not forgotten the emotions of that period when every day, when I opened my eyes, the market was empty of buyers, only sellers. Later, even though the market fell sharply, some stocks still maintained their reference price or increased in price, the phenomenon of empty buyers usually only happened at the end of the session and there was still cash flow to buy. However, at that time, all stocks hit the floor and were sold off.

The decline was so sharp that the management agency at that time had to urgently adjust the fluctuation range from 5% to 1% on HSX and from 10% to 2% on HNX to minimize risks and losses for investors. The market at that time fell from its highest point in 2007 (over 1,100 points) straight down to below 600 points with almost no support.

Over the past 25 years, although the market has fluctuated a lot through events, with indexes sometimes rising and then falling sharply, that period is still the most unforgettable memory of the ups and downs of the stock market.

Since then, the size of the stock market capitalization has grown significantly.

At that time, the market traded only a few tens or hundreds of billions of VND per day, but now it has regularly exceeded 30,000 billion VND per session. The number of stocks participating in the market has also increased very quickly, from just a few stocks at first, to more than 1,500 stocks on all three trading markets (HoSE, HNX and UPCoM).

At that time, the market did not have new products such as derivatives market, warrants, VN30 index or margin lending - concepts that are popular nowadays. These things show the big change of the Vietnamese stock market even though the time of operation was not too long.

There have also been many changes in management. Specifically, the direct management agency, the State Securities Commission, has also made many adjustments to better support the market. New decrees, circulars and instructions from the Ministry of Finance and the State Securities Commission have also helped the market become more transparent through inspection, supervision and handling of many individual and institutional investors who have committed violations, helping the stock market become healthier, thereby attracting more attention from new money flows. This is reflected in the continuous increase in the number of securities accounts, from a few thousand initial accounts to more than 10 million trading accounts.

A recent highlight is the new KRX information technology system being put into operation, completely replacing the old trading system from Thailand in the early stages. The stock market has grown strongly, causing the old trading system to face certain obstacles. After KRX comes into operation, in addition to meeting the volume and scale of transactions, new products will also be developed.

The payment mechanism is also being gradually improved. Previously, the Vietnam Securities Depository (currently the Vietnam Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation - VSDC) changed the payment mechanism, reducing it from T+3 to T+2. If the T0 payment process is applied in the future, it will certainly change the market greatly, becoming a breakthrough factor compared to the present.

After 25 years, the Vietnamese stock market is highly appreciated for its growth potential. What is your assessment of the market outlook in the coming time?

It must be said clearly that the Vietnamese stock market is a capital market and it is a “test barometer” of the Vietnamese economy through the strength of listed companies on the stock exchanges. If compared in terms of time, 25 years compared to markets that have developed for more than a hundred years, the Vietnamese market is still young. However, in terms of development speed and influence, the Vietnamese stock market is making remarkable progress.

This achievement reflects investors’ confidence in the policies, guidelines, and governance of the country from central to local leaders. As a result, not only domestic investors but also foreign investors are increasing their investment in Vietnamese stocks. They expect the growth of enterprises and believe that profit margins will become more and more attractive in the future.

It can be said that the Vietnamese stock market is making great impressions, demonstrating the strength of the economy and of Vietnamese enterprises.

In recent trading sessions, the market has begun to show differentiation. Cash flow has spread to Mid-cap and Small-cap stocks more than just focusing on a few leading stocks before. Market breadth is clearly expanding.

Looking to the end of the year, if there are no major geopolitical changes in the world, I believe that the Vietnamese stock market will certainly explode as the threshold for upgrading is right ahead. This event will create a great attraction for all domestic and foreign investors.

At the same time, the market is also supported by the Government's determination to boost public investment, control exchange rates from the State Bank, maintain a relatively low and stable interest rate level at present, and positive business results of enterprises. With these factors, Vietnamese stocks will continue to "sublimate" and the VN-Index will go even further.

Mr. Truong Hien Phuong, Senior Director, KIS Vietnam Securities Joint Stock Company.

EXPECTING MORE PUSH FROM POLICY

In terms of policy reform, how do you assess the role of regulatory agencies in helping the Vietnamese stock market grow?

I highly appreciate the efforts of the regulatory agencies that have operated the market over the past 25 years. From the Prime Minister's direction to closely monitor the stock market, capital market, and currency market; the policies issued by the Ministry of Finance to the operations of the State Securities Commission, stock exchanges, and the Depository Center, all have made efforts to create and promote the development of the stock market to become increasingly stronger, healthier, more transparent, and much safer.

The types of products on the market have also grown, attracting more investors to participate. In particular, the directives to bring the Vietnamese stock market closer to upgrading from a frontier market to an emerging market are a big step forward. If nothing changes, the Vietnamese stock market will receive good news in September. First is the recognition from FTSE Russell, then we will continue to strive to meet the MSCI upgrade criteria and the achievable goal next year. These are all great efforts by the stock market management agency that market members need to acknowledge.

Another indispensable part comes from the policies of the State Bank. Although the State Bank's instructions are biased towards the monetary market, it is clear that maintaining interest rates, stabilizing exchange rates, and regulating supply in the monetary market are also necessary conditions for the stability and growth of the stock market. These are two markets that refer to and influence each other.

Recently, there have been many conflicting discussions about the proposed personal income tax policy for stock investors, however, I believe that this is a correct and reasonable direction.

In fact, the previous tax rate of 0.1% on all sales transactions was applied very simply, easy to operate, easy to apply, but it deviated from the true nature of taxation, which is that only profits are subject to tax. Therefore, currently, when adjusting the tax on profitable income, it will be a correct adjustment. This mechanism is completely accurate, standard and in accordance with international practice.

However, when applied in Vietnam, there are also some difficult factors and specific instructions from state agencies are needed. For example, abroad, there are individuals with accounting certificates who will carry out tax procedures with tax authorities on behalf of investors and individuals. Tax procedures require documents that are both reasonable and valid. Investors, especially individual investors, are often not knowledgeable about accounting and tax operations, so more detailed regulations and instructions are needed. At the same time, the calculation formula also needs to be unified and considered based on the overall cases in securities transactions, such as average price, dividend payment in shares or margin transaction costs, etc.

What limitations and bottlenecks in the market do you want to contribute to improve and make the market more open to both domestic and foreign investors?

Not only me, but certainly investors are looking forward to a more drastic push for the Vietnamese stock market to meet MSCI's upgrade conditions. With FTSE, the possibility of an upcoming upgrade is very high, but besides that, the Vietnamese stock market is still lacking some criteria according to MSCI's regulations.

Currently, there are many large investment funds in the world referring to MSCI, so when meeting the requirements of this set of criteria, Vietnamese securities will attract most of the large investment funds and large financial institutions. Therefore, the Vietnamese stock market still needs to continue to improve more strongly.

Shortening payment time is also a factor that needs to be improved to get closer to major trading markets in the world that have applied T0.

Another desire is determination and direction to increase quality goods for the market, attracting more interested investors, especially foreign investors. We also see many large corporations are still trading on UPCoM or not listed, the amount of goods is still not rich and attractive enough for large foreign investors. Foreign room is also a limitation, many good listed enterprises have almost run out of foreign room, while other good and attractive enterprises are not listed.

When stepping into a larger playground, the emerging market, Vietnamese stocks will also step up to a new level, much higher than the frontier market. Therefore, the need for new products to attract more “fierce” investors is very urgent. In addition to promoting listing on the stock exchange, state agencies can also consider expanding products such as short selling, call options, put options to stocks, etc. to give investors more options.

A market with many products and many choices will certainly attract more investors because of its diversity and flexibility.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/thi-truong-chung-khoan-viet-nam-se-con-bung-no-tao-nen-suc-sut-lon-doi-voi-nha-dau-tu-d342064.html