The Vietnam Bond Market Association (VBMA) has submittedto the Ministry of Finance their programme to build a corporate bondinformation centre that would be the first of its kind in the domesticmarket, once the Ministry of Finance ratifies the plan.
"Thecentre would offer investors sufficient information, partially improvetransparency and provide the market more opportunities for development,"said VBMA General Secretary Do Ngoc Quynh.
The VBMA expects adecision from the finance ministry by the end of March. In the meantime,it has been cooperating with other parties to collect the historicaldata of all corporate bonds circulating in the market.
"Once wehave a corporate bond information centre, the VBMA will consult to setup a standard price system, or yield curve," Quynh added.
The association is also hurrying to develop a handbook on standard corporate bond issuance that is expected to assist issuers.
Vietnam's corporate bond market featured the participation of 20 issuers, though only one-fourth are active in the market.
However,few fully comprehend Vietnam's corporate bond market due to the lack ofa unit providing information about both the primary and secondarymarkets.
In order to enhance public confidence in corporate bondissuance, the Ministry of Finance has submitted a scheme detailing theestablishment of credit rating agencies. The ministry also expects toreceive a nod from the Government within the first quarter of this year.
TheMinistry of Finance plans to mobilise up to 35 trillion VND (1.65billion USD) from corporate bonds this year, up 1.8 percent against2013. Last year, the volume of corporate bonds sold was 34.41 trillionVND (1.62 billion USD), a surge of 19.87 percent from 2012, 37.64percent against 2011 and 14.7 percent over 2010.
While refusingto comment about the target of 1.8 percent growth for corporate bondsthis year, Quynh stressed: "Every market has its own routine, let's sayflat or hot periods of development.
"Our economy is going througha major economic restructuring process that, so far, has shown positiveconsequences. This process filters incompetent enterprises, which areable to borrow on the debt market, and I think the quality ofdevelopment would be better."
In the July-September period,Vietnam led the emerging East Asian bond market, in terms of its marketgrowth, on an annual basis, according to the Asian Development Bank'sAsia Bond Monitor report in November.
With the rate of 18.8percent, Vietnam had the fastest growing bond market, followed byIndonesia (16.3 percent), China (14.4 percent), the Philippines (12.5percent), and the Republic of Korea (10.4 percent).-VNA