There are more than one million accounts for securities transactions, according to the State Securities Commission (SSC). However, the number of active accounts just accounts for 20-35 percent.


The stock market boom in 2007 lured a lot of investors to the market. A lot of securities accounts were opened in that year, which was always cited as a factor to show the strong development of Vietnam’s stock market.
However, at the moment a high number of securities accounts does not mean the strong development of the market. Only 20-35 percent of the accounts are active, meaning that those are the accounts which see regular transactions. Meanwhile, other accounts are “virtual” or “dead”, and the liquidity of the stock market has been decreasing.
Ha Huy Toan, General Director of Agribank’s Securities Company (Agriseco) said there are 30,000 accounts at his company, but there are only 30 percent of accounts are active.
“While other securities companies have stopped providing “financial levers” to investors, Agriseco still has been giving loans to fund securities investments in order to help improve the liquidity,” Toan said. “However, the problem is that the bigger money investors borrow, the bigger losses they suffer”.
He went on to say that in the context of the gloomy stock market, the high percentage of inactive accounts proves to be understandable.
Representative from Thang Long Securities Company said the number of securities accounts at Thang Long has increased by 2000, but the percentage of active accounts is low at 35 percent.
The securities company provided consultancy services to the enterprises that wanted to list their shares on the bourse. Many workers of the enterprises decided to open discounts at the securities company for the purpose of depositing securities. The workers only used the accounts to sell securities, and after the sale, the accounts have been left “idle”.
Therefore, even though the number of accounts at Thang Long has increased sharply, the number of accounts which have regular transactions, remains modest.
Vietinbank Securities Company, with 45,000 accounts, is listed in the top 10 securities companies in terms of the number of accounts. However, only 30-35 percent of the accounts of the company have regular transactions.
In principle, “awakening” the “sleeping” accounts is the responsibility of securities brokers. However, the duty would put significant pressure on brokers, because if they urge securities investors to make transactions in the context of the gloomy market, they would violate professional ethics and bring losses to clients. However, if brokers do not do anything, they would fail to fulfill the task assigned to them.
Though the stock market remains lackluster, brokerage divisions of securities companies still have to continue their work every day – developing and expanding the network of clients and persuading people to open accounts. The head of the brokerage division said that he and his colleagues have to persuade clients to open accounts right now, so that the clients can make transactions right when the stock market improves.
Under the current regulations, every investor must not have more than one account. However, in fact, a lot of investors have many accounts. They have “dodged” the laws by registering accounts under the names of their relatives or friends.
Explaining why he has many accounts, an investor said he wants to take full advantage of the “privileges” given by different securities companies. One company would borrow money from him in big quantities, while another company would offer transaction fee discounts. Therefore, if having accounts at different companies, investors can use services in the best way.
Meanwhile, experts have urged SSC to allow securities investors to open more than one account. The fact that many investors open accounts under other people’s names may lead to disputes that cannot be settled. Meanwhile, this makes it impossible for the state management agency to calculate the exact number of investors on the market.
In related news, Dr Le Xuan Nghia, Deputy Chair of the National Finance Supervision Council has predicted that Vietnam’s stock market would enter the sustainable recovery from the third quarter of the year. For the time being, the VN Index will be between 450-520 points until the end of the second quarter.