The release of new products for the domestic securities market and related legal frameworks were discussed at a meeting held in Ha Noi on Thursday.


At the meeting held by the State Securities Commission of Viet Nam (SSC), Nguyen Thanh Ky, General Secretary of Viet Nam Association of Securities Business suggested that Ministry of Finance (MoF) and SSC should consider policies to help create more new products for the stock market. Suggestions include allowing an investor to sell and trade shares during the same session while being able to open more than one transaction account at different securities firms.
Tran Thanh Tan, Chairman of Club of Fund Management Companies proposed the SSC and MoF help develop the fund management sector.
The MoF and SSI should issue a legal framework relating to an open-end equity fund model as this is considered a prerequisite to help fund management firms develop new products, Tan said
Other policies are needed regarding other fund models, including exchange-traded funds, real estate investment trusts and pension funds.
In response, Deputy Finance Minister Tran Xuan Ha said that the ministry would review the suggestions and disclose a route-map for the introduction of new products in the near future.
According to the SSC, the domestic securities market faced difficulties last year due to unfavourable macroeconomic factors in both inside and outside the country. The market revealed the domestic financial system's low liquidity, trade deficit, inflation and high lending interest rates.
However, the stock market still had experienced a significant increase, with 187 new companies listed, amounting to 30 per cent of the total companies listed over the past decade.
In contrast to foreign investor withdrawals from the securities market in 2008-2009, Viet Nam lured US$1 billion through foreign indirect investment last year, Ha said.
The number of new accounts rose by 38 per cent in comparison with 2009. Of this, foreign investors owned 1,300 accounts, a 50 per cent rise compared to the previous year.
The commission also announced that the value of transactions in the securities market reached VND620 trillion (US$29.9 billion) with a total of 20.6 billion of shares last year, equivalent to 85 per cent of the market capitalisation which was quite high in comparison with the global stock market.
However, nearly 50 per cent of listed companies were small- and medium- sized firms worth VND100 billion ($4.8 million) in charter capital, while the remainder had an average capital of around VND50 billion ($2.4 million), according to SSC.
Corporate governance among listed companies also remained poor.
Ha announced that the MoF and relevant bodies were implementing several tasks this year in order to boost the domestic securities market.
Of this, the equitisation process of State-owned enterprises (SOEs) would continue to be hastened with a significant adjustment to Government Decree 109/CP on transforming SOEs into joint stock companies.
The MoF and SSI were also reviewing all guidelines for firms relating to listing, declarations and securities company operations, Ha added.