Nguyen The Minh, Director of Analysis Division at Yuanta Vietnam Securities Company (Photo: Yuanta Vietnam)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam should loosen restrictions on foreign ownershipand encourage entrepreneurship in new and revolutionary industries to attractforeign capital, said experts.
The statement was made by Yen Chen Hui, Chief Strategy Officer of YuantaSecurities Investment Consulting Co, during an online seminar themed “Stockmarket, an overview from the region to Vietnam, and post-pandemicopportunities”, held on June 10 by Yuanta Vietnam Securities Co.
Chen Hui said that for foreign investors, Vietnam’s stock market had a lot ofinvestment potential but there were two points that need improvement.
Vietnam needed to ease foreign ownership caps as it was difficult for foreigninvestors to find a good stock with “room” for investment, such as FPT shares.This was a good stock but foreign investors could not buy more, he said.
The second problem was that listed businesses on the stock market in Vietnamwere still mostly involved in traditional business. The country needed toencourage entrepreneurship in more trendy and revolutionary industries to fitin the new era, he said.
Nguyen The Minh, director of Analysis Division at Yuanta Vietnam SecuritiesCo., also shared the same view.
“Foreign ownership is an issue for foreign investors when they want to investin Vietnam’s stock market. Market capitalisation of listed companies remainssmall when compared to those in regional markets,” he said.
“Foreign investors also pay much attention to banking stocks and seek moreinvestment opportunities in this group but they are still hindered by thelimits in foreign ownership,” Minh said.
According to this expert, in the last three years, Vietnam’s banking system hasbeen improved significantly, becoming more resilient from external “shocks”.
“Therefore, foreign investors highly value the management of the banking systemand really wish to increase their ownership in bank stocks. But the foreignownership cap makes it more difficult to attract foreign capital.
“Even State-owned banks want to increase capital to meet Basel II standards asrequired. The participation of strategic investment funds at these banks islimited because of the barriers in foreign ownership.
“Investors do really hope that in the near future the equitisation and listingof State-owned enterprises will be accelerated because this group of businesseshas a strong financial background and plays a key role in the Vietnameseeconomy.
“The expansion in foreign ownership is also a prerequisite issue for Vietnam toget upgraded to the “emerging market” status from its current “frontier market”level. The Government needs to take this issue into serious consideration,especially removing the caps in the banking sector,” Minh said./.
The statement was made by Yen Chen Hui, Chief Strategy Officer of YuantaSecurities Investment Consulting Co, during an online seminar themed “Stockmarket, an overview from the region to Vietnam, and post-pandemicopportunities”, held on June 10 by Yuanta Vietnam Securities Co.
Chen Hui said that for foreign investors, Vietnam’s stock market had a lot ofinvestment potential but there were two points that need improvement.
Vietnam needed to ease foreign ownership caps as it was difficult for foreigninvestors to find a good stock with “room” for investment, such as FPT shares.This was a good stock but foreign investors could not buy more, he said.
The second problem was that listed businesses on the stock market in Vietnamwere still mostly involved in traditional business. The country needed toencourage entrepreneurship in more trendy and revolutionary industries to fitin the new era, he said.
Nguyen The Minh, director of Analysis Division at Yuanta Vietnam SecuritiesCo., also shared the same view.
“Foreign ownership is an issue for foreign investors when they want to investin Vietnam’s stock market. Market capitalisation of listed companies remainssmall when compared to those in regional markets,” he said.
“Foreign investors also pay much attention to banking stocks and seek moreinvestment opportunities in this group but they are still hindered by thelimits in foreign ownership,” Minh said.
According to this expert, in the last three years, Vietnam’s banking system hasbeen improved significantly, becoming more resilient from external “shocks”.
“Therefore, foreign investors highly value the management of the banking systemand really wish to increase their ownership in bank stocks. But the foreignownership cap makes it more difficult to attract foreign capital.
“Even State-owned banks want to increase capital to meet Basel II standards asrequired. The participation of strategic investment funds at these banks islimited because of the barriers in foreign ownership.
“Investors do really hope that in the near future the equitisation and listingof State-owned enterprises will be accelerated because this group of businesseshas a strong financial background and plays a key role in the Vietnameseeconomy.
“The expansion in foreign ownership is also a prerequisite issue for Vietnam toget upgraded to the “emerging market” status from its current “frontier market”level. The Government needs to take this issue into serious consideration,especially removing the caps in the banking sector,” Minh said./.
VNA
