All Vietnamese commercial banks to be listed before 2020

This is one of a series of solutions set out in the scheme to "Restructure the stock market and insurance market by 2020 with orientation towards 2025" approved by the Prime Minister late last month.

Accordingly, commercial banks are required to list on any of Vietnam’s three official stock exchanges - the Ho Chi Minh Stock exchange (HOSE), Vietnam’s main exchange which accounts for over 90 percent of total market capitalization; the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), which houses remaining listed companies; and the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM), which is set up to encourage unlisted public firms to participate in the securities market so that they can later transfer to one of the two main stock markets.

Currently, only 17 of 31 banks are registered for trading on all three floors.

The Prime Minister has assigned the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to supervise and direct banks on listing, securitizing debts, provision of required services for derivatives trading, as well as monitor domestic and capital sources on the market.

Last year, PM lauded Vietnam’s stock market for outperforming other Southeast Asian nations in capital mobilization, with a market cap of 72 percent of GDP at the end of 2-10.