The State Securities Commission temporarily suspended operations at two brokerages in October - Golden Bridge Vietnam and Trang An Securities - due to their inability to pay transaction fees.

Other firms have also volunteered to cease operations. Au Viet Securities Co (AVS) decided to terminate its membership on both the HCM City and Hanoi stock exchanges, which meant the company itself halted brokerage services.

If the situation did not improve by next June, the company would have to weigh up its options and consider shifting to another industry, said chairman Dao Duc Vinh.

The same thing happened to Cho Lon Securities, who had to transfer all investor accounts to HCM City Securities (HCM).

In addition, some firms have also announced the withdrawal of brokerage operations, such as Truong Son, Hanoi, Gia Anh and Dong Duong.

Brokering is the main income source for securities firms, but with trading value on the national stock exchanges totalling only 500-600 billion VND (23.8-28.5 million USD) per session, it creates very low profits.

To add to this, the top 10 securities firms already account for 60 percent of market share, leaving the remaining 90 companies battling for the remaining 40 percent.

Of the 100 companies to release their financial reports in the third quarter, over half reported losses.-VNA