The Sacombank Securities Company (SBS) has officially announced that it will now operate as an investment bank, becoming the first securities company in Vietnam to operate in this way.

SBS General Director Nguyen Ho Nam said that the company’s main function is to mobilise capital sources for businesses by issuing stocks.

The establishment and development of this kind of company in the current economic climate is essential, especially in developing countries such as Vietnam , added Nam.

The general director emphasised that in this new kind of form, SBS aims to become an investment gateway that links the Vietnamese capital market with other regional countries so it is able to enter large international financial markets such as Singapore , the US and Japan .

To achieve this, Nam said that the SBS will gradually wind up its operations as an investment bank and then begin to provide the same kinds of services and products as any other investment bank to Vietnam ’s capital market, including investment banking, market research, business advisory services and investment management.

Some financial commentators say that the investment bank form is quite new in Vietnam , however, it has been developed over a long period of time in other countries that have many large investment banks such as Citibank, HSBC, J.P. Morgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup and Credit Suisse./.