Vietnam may be upgraded by global provider of financial services FTSE Russel in the 2020 review period, after being retained on watch list for possible reclassification in this year review, according to Bao Viet Securities Company (BVSC).
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“Additional improvements are sought with regard to the registration of new accounts where market practice can extend the registration process and also the introduction of an efficient mechanism to facilitate trading in securities that have reached, or are approaching, their foreign ownership limit between non-domestic investors,“ stated FTSE in a statement.
FTSE also said there has been constructive interaction with the Vietnam market authorities over the last twelve months, and recognized Vietnam’s efforts to develop and improve the capital market.
Currently, Vietnam has only met seven out of nine prerequisites for a reclassification, in which two criteria that need to be improved are "Settlement – Rare incidence of failed trades" and "Off-exchange transactions permitted".
FTSE also explained why "Off-exchange transactions permitted" remains at "Restricted", due to the requirement of fund availability before trade execution, as guided in Circular 203/2015/TT-BTC. Notably, this is also the reason that "Settlement – Rare incidence of failed trades" was downgraded from "Pass" to "N/A" in the March 2019 interim country classification review.
BVSC expected that overcoming this factor is crucial for Vietnam to be upgraded in the next review. As this would be a guide in a circular, the changes will not go through many processes and take a lot of time as the amended Securities Law requires National Assembly approval.
Therefore, FTSE’s announcement reinforces the idea that Vietnam may be upgraded by FTSE in the 2020 review period because at that time, the amended Securities Law would likely have been approved while defects identified by FTSE during this review period can be mended by a new decree or circular issued by Ministry of Finance, stated BVSC.
