Stock upgrade: 6 "golden" months to break the billion-dollar barrier

VTV.vn - FTSE Russell's upgrading of Vietnam to a "secondary emerging" market marks a historic turning point, opening up billion-dollar capital flows and new development opportunities for the capital market.

Strategic turning point of capital market

On October 8, 2025, the global financial market recorded an important milestone when FTSE Russell - a prestigious market rating organization of the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) - officially announced the upgrade of Vietnam from Frontier Market to Secondary Emerging Market.

According to the official announcement, the decision will take effect on September 21, 2026. Vietnam still needs to pass the mid-term review in March 2026 to confirm the maintenance of improved technical criteria, especially issues related to payment, custody and foreign investor access.

According to economic experts, this is the result of a process of persistent efforts to reform infrastructure and legal framework by the Government, the Ministry of Finance and the State Securities Commission (SSC) over the past many years. Being included in the group of "secondary emerging markets" is not only a change in designation but also affirms the position and maturity of the Vietnamese stock market on the global financial map.

Vietnam's capital market and stock market will witness qualitative changes.

FTSE Russell's official upgrade of Vietnam to "secondary emerging market" effective from September 21, 2026 is a strategic turning point, opening up opportunities to attract large-scale foreign capital flows, promoting comprehensive growth for the capital market.

Sharing on this issue, Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang emphasized that the upgrading of Vietnam's stock market by FTSE is an important milestone in the development journey, clearly reflecting Vietnam's increasingly deep integration capacity into the international financial system. According to him, this is not only a great opportunity to attract international investment capital, but also a step to affirm the right and consistent direction in institutional reform and capital market development.

The Minister also emphasized: "Vietnam's capital market and stock market will witness qualitative changes. Not only will they welcome high-quality foreign capital flows, but the market itself, businesses and management agencies will also have to meet higher standards of governance, transparency and market discipline. This is the driving force for us to continue to improve institutions and promote sustainable growth."

"Billion dollar" opportunity and "golden time" full of reform pressure

Being included in the FTSE Russell Secondary Emerging Market basket will trigger cash flows from global index funds that are using the FTSE EM Index or FTSE All-World Index as a benchmark. Specifically, ETFs will be forced to restructure their portfolios, allocating a certain proportion to Vietnamese stocks, creating a mandatory demand force in the market.

According to economic and financial expert Nguyen Tri Hieu, the upgrade opens the door to foreign investment capital flows, both passive and active, with an estimated scale of 3.5 to 10 billion USD within just 12-18 months after the decision takes effect. This capital flow will create a huge technical demand, a strong and comprehensive growth driver for the domestic capital market.

Vietnam's upgrade by FTSE Russell is a "strategic step" to help the stock market enter the global playing field.

Great opportunities always come with great challenges, especially during the transition period that experts call the “golden period” – from now until the important mid-term review in March 2026. This is the period when the Vietnamese stock market must affirm its ability to maintain and improve the technical criteria recognized by FTSE Russell.

Accordingly, investors and international organizations are paying special attention to four key bottlenecks, persistent problems that can affect high-quality capital flows. To make the upgrade opportunity a reality, Vietnam needs to remove these four technical barriers.

The first challenge is payment and deposit, the requirement for full payment in advance for foreign investors is the biggest barrier, different from international practice on the mechanism of payment for delivery. Foreign funds want a mechanism that does not require full deposit or reduces the deposit ratio to optimize capital, unlocking passive capital flow. The second is the foreign ownership limit, the limit on ownership ratio in specific industries such as banking reduces the potential proportion of Vietnamese stocks in the FTSE Russell index basket, limiting the scale of absorbed capital. Third, it is necessary to accelerate the roadmap for applying international accounting standards. The difference between international and Vietnamese accounting standards makes it difficult for foreign investors to price. Standardizing financial statements is a signal of transparency. Finally, technology infrastructure, the official operation of the krx system is a prerequisite. This system helps shorten the payment cycle and ensures the ability to handle large volumes of orders from foreign funds. Delays directly affect the readiness to receive capital flows.

Minister Nguyen Van Thang emphasized that upgrading the market is not a destination but a long journey, which is only meaningful when the market develops sustainably, transparently and deeply. He said that it is necessary to focus on three pillars of action to take advantage of opportunities before the March 2026 assessment. First, perfecting the legal and market mechanism, putting the KRX system into operation soon, piloting non-pre-deposit trading and considering loosening the foreign "room". Second, improving transparency and corporate governance standards, promoting the application of IFRS and disclosing information in English. Third, strengthening supervision, risk management, improving early warning and developing defense tools such as the derivatives market.

According to expert Nguyen Tri Hieu, Vietnam's upgrade by FTSE Russell is "a strategic step" to help the stock market enter the global playing field. According to him, the important thing is not only to welcome billion-dollar capital flows but also to maintain the confidence of international investors through substantial reforms. "To maintain its emerging position, Vietnam needs to continue to improve its institutions, provide information transparency and improve its corporate governance capacity. This is the decisive factor to help the market develop sustainably and compete with countries in the region," he emphasized.

The upgrade by FTSE Russell is not only a technical milestone, but also a driving force for the Vietnamese stock market to "transform" comprehensively from product quality, operational capacity to governance standards. As Minister Nguyen Van Thang affirmed, "this is just the beginning of a new phase of qualitative development". If it continues to maintain the reform momentum and uphold the transparency criteria, Vietnam can completely aim to become a "fully emerging market" in the next decade, contributing to strengthening the national financial position and attracting international resources for sustainable growth./.

Source: https://vtv.vn/nang-hang-chung-khoan-6-thang-vang-de-pha-vo-rao-can-ty-usd-100251022103507145.htm