Many joint stock banks to list soon

Hanoi (VNA) - OCB shareholders decided at a recent meeting that there will be a change of listing plans. The bank’s shares will now be listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange and not on the Unlisted Public Company Market, or UPCoM, as decided earlier.

In the second quarter, the lender’s annual shareholders meeting had approved a plan to list on UPCoM.

The recent meeting also tasked OCB’s executive board with completing the required paperwork and choosing a suitable time to list on HOSE.

The change is expected to improve the liquidity of its shares.

Besides OCB, many other joint stock banks have also opted to list their shares on HOSE or on the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) instead of trading on UPCoM.

The director of a joint stock bank based in HCM City revealed that after approving a plan to sell 50 percent stakes to foreign investors, his bank would begin the process of listing on HOSE.

On December 12 more than 564 million shares of Vietnam International Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VIB) were registered with the Vietnam Securities Depository, the first step for the bank to on the stock market.                  

VIB is a bank that takes good care of its shareholders. In 2014 it paid 9 percent in cash and 14 percent in the form of bonus shares.

In 2015 they were respectively 8.5 percent and 16.5 percent.

Techcombank has already sought shareholder approval for registering with the VSD and listing on HOSE/HNX.

The executive boards of VPBank and VietA Bank have also said they are waiting for guidelines from the State Securities Commission to complete the required procedures to list their shares on the stock market.

The State Securities Commission (SSC) issued Circular 180/2015/TT-BTC on unlisted public companies, which took effect on January 1, 2016.

According to new rules it laid out, public companies which are not eligible for listing on the two stock exchanges and equitised enterprises must register for trading on UPCoM within 30 days from their registration as a public company.

Within 30 days of the last day of an initial public offering, unlisted public companies and equitised enterprises must register for trading on UPCoM.

The new rules were aimed at preventing eligible companies from avoiding listing and deliberately delisting, actions that could harm investors’ interests.

The authorities expect listing to improve the transparency and operational efficiency of companies.

Meanwhile, according to data released by the SSC on November 30, 2015, more than 1,000 public companies had listed neither on the stock exchange nor on UPCoM.

The new circular stipulates a deadline of December 31, 2016, for listing by companies that have not yet listed.

Because of this, many public companies, including joint stock banks, have been hastily completing the required procedures to list their shares to before the deadline.

By June this year shares of 686 companies had been traded on the two national stock exchanges, while the number on UPCoM stands at over 280.-VNA