Vietnam is retained on the watch list for possible reclassification from Frontier to Secondary Emerging, announced FTSE Russell, a leading global provider of financial services, in the 2019 annual country classification on September 26.
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According to the results of the temporary review in March 2019, Vietnam has met seven out of nine prerequisites to be upgraded to a secondary emerging market. The remaining two criteria are "Settlement – Rare incidence of failed trades" and " Off-exchange transactions permitted".
The second criterion is now assessed as “Not met”, while for the first criterion, FTSE indicates N/A, meaning further information is required for assessment.
However, in FTSE’s matrix table, there are a few cases of other stock markets. Several countries, despite not meeting all of the nine prerequisites, were placed in the secondary emerging market list, such as the Philippines, Peru, Chile, Colombia, and Qatar.
FTSE Russell said there has been engagement with Vietnam’s stock market authorities over the last 12 months and noticed the latter’s efforts to improve the market.
Following the result, Vietnam would continue to remain in the watch list. The country is on track for classification as Secondary Emerging in the review on September 2020, in case of meeting all criteria of FTSE Russell.
At the Vietnam Economic Forum on Capital-Finance Market in Hanoi in last August, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue said the Vietnamese government is determined to work for the upgrade of the local stock market to emerging market status soon.
Chairman of the State Securities Commission of Vietnam Tran Van Dung affirmed that with drastic measures from the government in creating a level playing field for both local and foreign companies, Vietnam can achieve the target of becoming an emerging securities market in the next two years.
For this year's review, Romania, currently a Frontier market, will be reclassified as a Secondary Emerging market, while Tanzania, currently unclassified, to be included as a Frontier Market. All changes are effective from September 2020.
Notably, Argentina is removed from the Watch List for possible reclassification to Secondary Emerging market status due to the imposition of capital controls.
