Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang

Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang said this was an important milestone of the Vietnamese stock market's development.

The minister said that a quarter of a century ago, on July 20, 2000, the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HSX) came into operation, and the first trading session was held on July 28. This was one of the concrete results of innovation and perfecting a socialist-oriented market economy.

After 25 years of development, the Vietnamese stock market has grown significantly in terms of legal framework, market structure, scale, liquidity, quality, transparency, efficiency, and international integration.

In the early days, there were only two listed enterprises, and the capitalisation scale was about 0.28 per cent of GDP. Now there are over 1,600 enterprises on the market, with a capitalisation scale of the stock and bond market at nearly 100 per cent of GDP. This has become an important medium and long-term capital mobilisation channel for the economy and economic organisations.

The stock market is increasingly perfecting its legal framework, market structure, technology infrastructure, products, and intermediary organisations, and is an attractive investment channel with more than 10 million accounts of domestic and foreign investors.

"The stock market has mobilised hundreds of billions of dollars for development investment, affirming its major role in the modern economy and being one of the major pillars of the national financial system, in addition to the banking and insurance systems," the minister emphasised.

He highlighted the role and effective contribution of the Vietnamese stock market in each stage of the country's economic development as an important medium- and long-term capital channel for the economy and enterprises.

Minister Thang highly appreciated the contributions of the State Securities Commission (SSC), the agency that directly manages the market, for always closely following reality, proactively advising, perfecting the legal framework, strengthening inspections and supervision, and handling violations, in addition to the efforts of the stock exchanges and the Vietnam Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation.

"I also commend all the securities companies, fund management companies, listed enterprises, and investors for joining hands to create a healthy and sustainable market," he said.

Senior leaders attending the ceremony

The minister requested the entire securities sector to implement key tasks as follows:

First, continue to build and perfect a synchronous legal framework in line with international practices, ensuring the stability, transparency, and efficiency of the market.

Second, organise market operations in a safe, stable, and effective manner; reform administrative procedures, create favourable conditions for organisations and individuals to participate in the market; improve management capacity, quality of supervision and inspections, and strictly handle violations to improve transparency and market discipline.

Third, effectively restructure the pillars of the market, call for more big investors, improve the quality of goods, diversify products and services, and meet the diverse needs of the market and investors.

Fourth, promote digital transformation and modernise IT infrastructure, both for state management and the development requirements of the market.

Fifth, strengthen information and propaganda and knowledge training for investors; promote comprehensive and in-depth international cooperation, and enhance the position of the Vietnamese stock market, especially implementing solutions to upgrade the Vietnamese stock market from a frontier to an emerging market, thereby attracting domestic and foreign investment capital.

SSC chairwoman Vu Thi Chan Phuong said that the securities industry is committed to implementing assigned tasks, perfecting the legal framework, and improving the quality of management and supervision. It will also reform administrative procedures, transform digitally, enhance transparency and discipline, and protect the rights and legitimate interests of organisations and investors.

"SSC will coordinate with relevant ministries and agencies to resolutely and synchronously implement solutions to soon upgrade the stock market from frontier to emerging," she said. "The road ahead is a new one with many opportunities and many challenges. Therefore, the Vietnamese stock market needs the support of ministries, agencies, localities, and the joint efforts of organisations, market members, the business community, and investors."