SSI is one of seven securities company stocks included in the Small Cap segment of the FTSE Global All Cap Index. How do you view the significance of this event for SSI?

This is a transformational event for SSI, but perhaps not for the reason most people initially assume.

SSI’s inclusion is an important international recognition of our scale, liquidity, investability, and leadership within Vietnam’s capital market. It will introduce SSI to a vast new universe of investors using FTSE indices as benchmarks or as the foundation for passive investment products. The direct capital flow into SSI shares will certainly be significant.

But that is the smallest way to understand what is happening.

I have spent much of my career working in global financial centers, including London and New York. At CICC, I had a front-row seat as China developed its capital markets and became integrated into the global financial system. I saw what happens when a market moves from the periphery toward the center of global capital: the money does not arrive alone. An entire financial ecosystem follows it.

Global brokers, ETF managers, quantitative funds, active managers, custodians, technology providers, and investment banks are now building the infrastructure and relationships required to participate in Vietnam. They need local execution, research, corporate access, market intelligence, settlement connectivity, andcapital-markets services. That opportunity for SSI is far larger than the passive inflow into our own shares.

The change is already visible. Institutional investors now represent approximately 30% of SSI’s business. We have opened 185 new institutionalaccounts this year, anincrease of65% YoY, and quantitative funds now account for approximately half of our foreign institutional trading volume.

Many market participants still view September 21 as a technical index event. I believe they are dramatically underestimating its significance. The FTSE upgrade is the immediate catalyst, but institutionalization is the real transformation. It is changing Vietnam’s address in the global investment universe.

The global financial ecosystem is descending on Vietnam, and SSI intends to be its leading gateway into the market.

What demands does inclusion in a global index place on SSI regarding corporate governance, information disclosure, free float, and accessibility for international investors?

A transformational opportunity inevitably brings transformational demands. The international scrutiny of SSI is not waiting until September 21—it has already begun.

The FTSE upgrade and, specifically, the global broker model are leading the world’s largest financial institutions to establish trading relationships in Vietnam. As SSI is onboarded by bulge-bracket global brokers, we undergo extensive KYC and operational due diligence.

These institutions do not on-board a counterparty based on reputation alone. They examine the company from the inside out: ownership and governance, regulatory compliance, anti-money-laundering controls, financial condition, cybersecurity, business continuity, trading systems, settlement procedures, operational resilience, and risk management.

They also demand the highest standards of execution, reporting, responsiveness, error management, and client service. These are institutions accustomed to operating in London, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the world’s most sophisticated capital markets. They expect the same standards from the firms representing them in Vietnam.

This is not simply an administrative burden. It is a dress rehearsal for the scrutiny that will come with expanded global investor exposure. The onboarding process is already strengthening our systems, documentation, controls, and service culture.

At the same time, SSI faces higher expectations as a listed company. International investors will require timely and consistent disclosure, strong board oversight, effective risk management, protection of minority shareholders, and clear communication in English as well as Vietnamese. For a securities company, they will focus particularly on capital adequacy, liquidity, margin lending, proprietary investment exposure, related-party transactions, and the sustainability of earnings.

Free float and foreign ownership headroom are equally important because FTSE weights are based on investable market capitalization, not simply total market capitalization. Corporate actions and ownership changes must therefore be considered through the lens of global investability.

SSI is being evaluated in two capacities: as a listed company receiving international investment and as a financial intermediary serving the institutions entering Vietnam. We must meet global standards ourselves while helping the rest of the world navigate Vietnam.

That is an enormous responsibility—but it is also an extraordinary competitive opportunity.

How do you forecast capital flow movements between now and September 21?

First, the August 21 announcement remains indicative. Changes may be revised until September 4 and become final from September 7. Until then, investors will continue

examining the constituent list, estimated weights, free-float assumptions, liquidity, and foreign ownership headroom.

Once the list becomes final, I expect positioning by active and event-driven investors to accelerate. Passive implementation will occur around the September rebalance window. Some funds will transact near the September 18 closing session to minimize tracking error, while others will implement positions across several sessions depending on liquidity and their operational requirements. We should not assume that every dollar will enter during one closing auction.

The breadth of the announcement is remarkable. Twenty-seven Vietnamese companies are being added across the large-, mid-, and small-cap segments. This is not an upgrade involving only a handful of traditional bellwethers. It is recognition that a much broader part of Vietnam’s market is becoming relevant to global capital.

However, breadth of inclusion does not mean equal distribution of flows. Market-cap-weighted capital has its own gravity. Passive money will be heavily concentrated in the companies with the greatest investable market capitalization, liquidity, free float, and index weights. Active managers cannot ignore that concentration either, because once a company becomes central to a benchmark, not owning it becomes a major active decision.

September 21 is also only the starting gun. Approximately 10% of Vietnam’s scheduled inclusionwillbe implemented inthe first tranche, withthe remainder phased throughMarch, June, and September 2027. Under the current announcement, Vietnam is expected to represent approximately 0.49% of the FTSE Emerging All Cap Index, generating an estimated US$2.2 billion of cumulative passive inflows across the four tranches.

But there is every possibility that Vietnam’s benchmark weight could continue expanding. More free float, greater foreign ownership headroom, new large-cap listings, and further improvements in accessibility could make a much larger proportion of the market available to international institutions.

This is the crucial idea: Vietnam does not suddenly need to become a much larger economy. More of Vietnam needs to become investable.

Therefore, September is the event, but benchmark-weight expansion is the much larger investment thesis. March 2027 will be the first major test of whether September was a one-time adjustment or the beginning of a sustained rise in Vietnam’s global benchmark representation.

September 21 is not the destination. It is the moment the gates begin to open.

How might actively managed funds time their capital deployment ahead of the official portfolio rebalancing by passive funds?

Active managers have much greater flexibility than passive funds. Event-driven investors may begin positioning following the indicative announcement, while more traditional active managers may wait for the final list or accumulate positions gradually around periods of market weakness.

Some investors will undoubtedly buy ahead of passive implementation because they expect index-related demand to support share prices. Others may wait for volatility or profit-taking after the rebalance. Longer-term managers may build positions over several months rather than treating September 21 as a trading deadline.

While active managers may see the FTSE upgrade as a catalyst, they must still demonstrate a compelling economic and fundamental case to their investment committees and clients. The upgrade gives Vietnam global visibility and removes important barriers to access, but it does not replace the need for economic growth, earnings growth, strong governance, liquidity, and attractive investment opportunities.

This is why Vietnam’s position is so powerful. The country combines high GDP growth with relative macroeconomic stability, sweeping regulatory reforms, strong earnings growth amongVN-Index companies, sustained foreign direct investment,  accelerating infrastructure development, and the emergence of a larger domestic consumer economy.

When I worked at CICC, I saw how international benchmark inclusion could bring a market onto the global investment map. But it was China’s growth, earnings, corporate development, and expanding investability that converted initial attention into lasting institutional allocations. Vietnam now has a similar opportunity.

The upgrade gets Vietnam into the room. Its economic and corporate fundamentals give investors a reason to stay.

Active managers are also not confined to the initial constituent list. Once they commit resources to understanding Vietnam, they will search across the market for companies offering the strongest combination of earnings growth, valuation, governance, liquidity, and foreign ownership headroom.

Over time, these active allocations could dwarf the mechanical passive flows. Passive funds may open the door, but active capital can transform the entire room.

How do you assess the spillover effect of market-upgrade capital flows across the broader market, particularly for stocks not included in the FTSE Global All Cap Index?

The institutional tide will not stop at the 27 companies included in the FTSE Global All Cap Index.

Direct passive flows will naturally be concentrated in index constituents, particularly the companies with the largest investable market capitalization. In the short term, this could create a significant liquidity and valuation premium for those companies. That is how market-cap-weighted global capital operates.

But global institutions are not going to build trading infrastructure, onboard local brokers, establish research coverage, allocate technology, and develop investment teams simply to own27 stocks for one rebalance date. Once the globalfinancialecosystem establishes itself in Vietnam, it will search for opportunities across the entire market.

Active managers will look beyond the index. Quantitative funds will bring new sources of liquidity. International brokers will expand coverage. Companies will raise their investor-relations and governance standards. Better market infrastructure will make trading and settlement easier, while deeper institutional participation will improve price discovery and increase the rewards for companies that communicate clearly and allocate capital responsibly.

This is the true spillover effect. It is not simply money moving from one group of stocks into another. It is the transformation of the market’s operating system.

Companies outside the initial index can position themselves for future inclusion by increasing free float, improving foreign ownership accessibility, strengthening disclosure, and developing deeper liquidity. As more companies meet those standards, more of Vietnam becomes investable and the country’s benchmark capacity can expand further.

Many participants still look at Vietnam through the framework of the retail-driven market they have known for years. That framework is rapidly becoming obsolete. Passive funds, quantitative strategies, active institutions, and global brokers behave differently from domestic retail investors. They will change liquidity, valuations, corporate behavior, market concentration, and the way capital is allocated.

Vietnam’s market of tomorrow will not trade like the Vietnam market of yesterday. The FTSE upgrade is the catalyst, but institutionalization will be the force that reshapes the market for a generation.