Vietnam draws foreign investment in securities

Government Decree 60/2015/ND-CP on scrapping foreign ownership limit in Vietnam’s securities market, which will take effect on September 1, is expected to create huge opportunities for the Southeast Asian country to attract foreign investment, heard a recent seminar in Singapore.

At the event, held on August 20 by the Vietnamese business group in Singapore (VietCham Singapore) and the Singapore Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (SVCA), many Singaporean firms described the promulgation of the decree as an active move of the Vietnamese Government in a bid to promote the country as an attractive destination in the eye of foreign investors.

This also helps address the securities market’s issues and expedite the equitisation of State-owned businesses in Vietnam , participants commented.

John Foo, CEO & CIO of Singapore’s Kingsmead Asset Management, emphasised the necessity of the move as many foreign investors said one of their major concerns is the limited proportion of shares.

He suggested Vietnam consider to open some less restrictive areas or choose the way as Thailand has done to attract foreign investment in the media industry, with larger proportion of shares held by Vietnam.

Sharing this viewpoint, Director of VinaCapital Singapore Office Jason Ng, said Vietnam could draw more foreign investors if the Government ensures that new policies could satisfy the demands of overseas businesses.

He added that this a good time for Vietnam to move forward since some regional countries such as Indonesia , Myanmar , and Thailand are encountering with a lot of issues at home.

Many Singaporean businesses and investment funds said they are particularly interested in the issuance of a list of business fields that limit the proportion of shares held by foreign investors as well as the early completion of specific instruction documents to bring Decree 60 into reality.

They commented that the policy consultation is very necessary to ensure foreign investment attraction.

John Foo stressed that with the roadmap to reduce restrictive sectors, foreign investment in Vietnam will increase and have positive impact on the State-run business equitisation.-VNA