Public companies which do not register their shares at the Viet Nam Securities Depository Centre would be subject to penalty, State Securities Commission vice chairwoman Vu Thi Kim Lien told a conference this week on new securities regulations.
Pursuant to the Law on Securities, shares in public companies, whether listed or unlisted, must be centrally registered at the nation’s sole depository centre.
As of a December 31, 2009, deadline set for compliance with the provision, only 500 companies out of 4,000 nationwide, or 12.5 per cent, had submitted their registration documents.
"The Law on Securities has been in effect for three years and there is no further ground for postponing it," said Lien. "The commission will make a list of companies which failed to register by last year’s deadline and apply penalties accordingly."
Guilty companies would be fined VND5 million (US$266) and ordered to register at the same time, she said. The commission was also likely to forbid unregistered companies from issuing additional shares and would not acknowledge stock split results of companies in violation.
For public companies which did not wish to list shares on the stock exchange or participate in the unlisted public company market (UPCoM), Lien said, they could designate a securities company to act as their trading agency or organise stock issues and transfers on their own.
These companies would also be required to satisfy commission requirements in terms of ensuring timely and accurate disclosures, she added.
Ha Noi Stock Exchange general director Tran Van Dung acknowledged that securities regulations did not compel public companies to list on organised markets such as UPCoM.
However, the exchanged had proposed some modification of regulations to the State Securities Commission and the Ministry of Finance that would require all public companies to trade on centrally regulated exchanges.