Vu Bang, Chairman of the State Securities Commission
(SSC), affirmed that the US financial crisis has been indirectly
affecting Vietnam’s stock market as it has been psychologically
affecting investors.


Some experts have warned that Vietnam’s
stock market will face a wave of investment capital shifting. What is
your viewpoint about this?


With the information I have about foreign investors’
portfolios at this moment and foreign currency reserves, I can say that
we are capable of dealing with sudden changes, if they occur, related
to indirect investment capital movement.


Meanwhile, our conditions are now very good. The
government has been patiently following the eight measures it drew up
to stabilise the economy. Our foreign currency reserves have increased
considerably. Besides, the oil price decreases in the world’s market
have been supporting us.


But negative factors still exist?


We have anticipated difficulties and we are making plans to deal with them.


The first thing we need to do is to control the
liquidity and manage risks of securities trading organisations in the
market. We have been strengthening supervision over the market’s
operations, while issuing strict risk management procedures.


Second, we have suggested to the government a plan on dealing with crises.


Third, we are reconsidering securities operations,
including repo contracts, in order to prevent risks. SSC is going to
release a legal document related to the issue.


As far as I know, a lot of applications for share
issuance have been made to SSC. Do you think that it is now the right
time for companies to issue securities?


When businesses find it difficult to access bank
loans, they naturally seek capital in the stock market, which they hope
can help them continue their projects. It is true that a lot of
applications on share issuance have been sent to SSC.


We do not have the right to refuse the applications as
the plans prove to meet legal requirements. However, I have to say that
we cannot ensure the feasibility of the investment plans; we only can
ensure that the companies can meet the requirements for the issuance.


However, we have recommended to companies which plan
to issue shares that they think carefully about their plans, and have
suitable plans for using capital. Companies should only mobilise
capital to inject in effective projects in order to avoid so-called
‘share dilution’.