Vietnam Stock Market: Accelerating reforms, aiming for upgrading

Deputy Minister of Finance Tran Quoc Phuong exchanges information at the Government Press Conference - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

This is the opinion of Deputy Minister of Finance Tran Quoc Phuong at the regular Government press conference in April 2025 chaired by Minister, Head of the Government Office Tran Van Son, Spokesperson of the Government.

Responding to the press, Deputy Minister of Finance Tran Quoc Phuong affirmed that this is a task that the Prime Minister has directed very strongly.

With clear goals and a specific roadmap, Vietnam is implementing a series of measures to improve market capacity, thereby fully meeting the strict criteria of international rating organizations such as FTSE Russell and MSCI. However, to achieve the expected results, converging the necessary and sufficient conditions is still a big challenge.

Deputy Minister Tran Quoc Phuong analyzed: The necessary conditions, that is, the technical criteria, have been largely met by Vietnam. However, the sufficient conditions, that is, the trust and positive evaluation from the international investor community. This depends more on the perception of the investment environment, the level of transparency and accessibility of the market.

Therefore, to successfully achieve the expectation of upgrading in September 2025, the Ministry of Finance is actively directing the State Securities Commission (SSC) and many related units to deploy 6 major groups of solutions.

The Ministry of Finance leader said that the agency has directed the securities industry to make synchronous efforts to reform from technology to the legal framework.

Accordingly, in the coming time, the Ministry of Finance will orient a number of major solutions to increase foreign investors' confidence in the market as well as strengthen support for the upgrading decision of organizations.

Specifically, first, effectively deploy the KRX system (information technology system for managing and operating transactions on the stock market) with many new features on payment, transactions, and risk prevention in foreign investors' trading activities.

Along with the previous issuance of Circular 68/2024/TT-BTC, supplementing regulations on stock purchase transactions that do not require sufficient funds when placing orders by foreign institutional investors, an important "bottleneck" has been removed, helping investment activities to be smooth.

Second, review and amend Decree 155, clearly specifying the deadline for public companies to complete the notification of the maximum foreign ownership ratio to make ownership information transparent for market participants. Implement clearing and settlement activities according to the central clearing mechanism.

Third, simplify procedures for opening indirect investment capital accounts. With this solution, the Ministry of Finance is coordinating with the State Bank to support foreign indirect investment activities in Vietnam, aiming to attract diverse capital sources in the stock market.

Fourth, research and implement general trading accounts in the direction of initially applying to foreign investment funds, then propose amendments and supplements to related regulations. General trading account (OTA - Omnibus trading account) is an account that allows the fund management company to simultaneously buy/sell securities for all funds that the company manages and does not have to execute separate buy/sell orders on each fund account as is currently the case.

The implementation of a general trading account will help foreign institutional investors and fund management companies simplify order placement for funds and ensure order matching at the same price for each fund that the company manages.

Fifth, increase the supply of goods and develop new products for the stock market such as shortening the process of listing shares after IPO (initial public offering); develop investment indexes in addition to the current market indexes as the basis for investment activities of funds;...

Finally, establish a policy dialogue group consisting of members of the State Securities Commission, experts, investment funds, international investment organizations, securities companies, etc. to support the upgrading process.

Through a direct and regular exchange mechanism, this dialogue group will be the place to record, analyze and propose solutions to problems in a flexible and timely manner. Not only that, this is also an important connection channel to reflect market needs into policies, which many experts have assessed as a lack in the past.

"With such solutions, the Ministry of Finance believes that the story of upgrading the market in September 2025 will have specific results to share," said Deputy Minister Tran Quoc Phuong.

Although the recent steps are very commendable, the upgrade journey still has many thorns. In the interim report published on April 9, FTSE Russell continued to maintain the classification of Vietnam in the frontier market group, citing the reason that it has not fully met the payment requirements in the classification framework. However, this organization also recognized some significant improvements such as the non-pre-funding trading model for foreign investors that has been put into operation. Although more time is needed to monitor and evaluate, the positive signals are undeniable. If the upgrade is successful, this will be a strong push to make Vietnam the most attractive investment destination in the region. Before the pivotal time in September 2025, the Government is clearly demonstrating its political determination to upgrade the national stock market. In many executive meetings, the Prime Minister directed relevant ministries and branches to coordinate closely and not allow bottlenecks to exist.

Mr. Minh

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/ttck-viet-nam-tang-toc-cai-cach-huong-toi-muc-tieu-nang-hang-10225050619324266.htm