The Ministry of Finance continues to promote solutions towards the goal of upgrading the stock market.

Illustrative photo. (Photo: VNA)

Recently, international rating organizations, including FTSE Russell, have highly appreciated Vietnam's strong reforms in the process of upgrading the stock market. One of the important turning points is the Ministry of Finance's issuance of Circular 68/2024/TT-BTC (effective from November 4, 2024) and then Circular 18/2025/TT-BTC (issued on April 26, 2025), officially removing the pre-trading margin mechanism. This is considered a major barrier for many years, and its removal has helped the Vietnamese stock market approach international standards, meeting the expectations of foreign investors.

Along with that, Vietnam has put into operation the KRX information technology system, issued new circulars on registration, depository, clearing and payment, and established a full and transparent legal corridor for securities trading activities, which also helps the market improve safety, professionalism and transparency. These efforts have been recognized by the international community, creating more basis for FTSE Russell to consider upgrading Vietnam from a frontier market to an emerging market.

FTSE Russell's annual market classification results, expected to be announced on October 7, 2025, are of particular interest to domestic and foreign investors.

To further strengthen the foundation for the upgrading goal, the Ministry of Finance has submitted to the Government a draft Decree amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree 155/2020/ND-CP. The draft clearly stipulates that within 12 months from the effective date of the Decree, public companies must complete the notification of foreign ownership ratios to ensure transparency of information on foreign ownership ratios in public companies.

In addition, the Ministry of Finance is coordinating with ministries and branches to amend and supplement the Investment Law and guiding documents to increase the foreign ownership ratio in industries not related to security and defense, thereby increasing the maximum foreign ownership ratio in public companies. This is considered a strong move, directly increasing the maximum foreign ownership ratio in public companies - one of the key criteria in FTSE Russell's rating assessment.

In addition, the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank are working closely to complete the amendment to Circular 17/2024/TT-NHNN, with a series of improvements to further facilitate foreign investors. The new regulations are expected to allow investors to authorize financial institutions to open, close and use payment accounts; no longer require consular legalization for account opening documents; remove biometric regulations when opening online accounts and when withdrawing money; allow the use of the SWIFT system in payment transactions; and minimize requirements for documents and signatures. When this Circular is officially issued, the investment environment will be more open, convenient and closer to international practices.

The synchronous efforts from institutional improvement, technological infrastructure upgrading, administrative procedure reform to increasing market transparency have demonstrated Vietnam's determination in the goal of upgrading the stock market. This is not only a technical step forward, but also has strategic significance: attracting more international capital flows, expanding the scale and depth of the market, contributing to strengthening the confidence of domestic and foreign investors, and affirming the new position of the Vietnamese stock market in the international arena.

MINH PHUONG

Source: https://nhandan.vn/ministry-of-finance-continues-to-strengthen-solutions-towards-targeting-the-stock-market-post906390.html