After 2030, the number of foreign investor accounts is expected to grow by 15% annually. This is one of four key objectives of the investor restructuring and fund industry development plan recently approved by the Ministry of Finance on 12/9.
As of the end of August, foreign investors held approximately 49,000 stock accounts in Vietnam, representing less than 0.5% of the total market. This means the stock market needs to attract foreign investors to open over 150,000 new accounts in the next five years.
Growth in the number of foreign investor accounts has been slow over the past decade. In the last five years alone, only about 14,000 accounts were opened, an average of 3,000 per year.
To attract foreign investment, the Ministry of Finance's plan outlines several solutions: simplifying administrative procedures and shortening account opening times, and implementing a central counterparty (CCP) mechanism for underlying securities. The plan also mentions reviewing and expanding foreign ownership ratios in non-essential sectors that do not affect national security.
Diversifying the supply of goods is planned throughout the five-year implementation of the project. The plan encourages initial public offerings (IPOs) and listings of large enterprises and foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises.
The Ministry of Finance also aims to improve the quality of domestic individual investors, encouraging them to invest through funds to increase market efficiency, stability, and depth.
The number of investors holding fund certificates is expected to reach 2.5 million in the next five years and increase to 5 million by 2035. The number of securities investment funds is targeted to reach 500 by 2030 and grow by 25% annually thereafter. The total net asset value (NAV) of the funds is expected to reach 5% of GDP, then rise to double digits in the next 10 years.
By 2030, domestic individual investors are projected to account for about 70% of trading volume, with the remaining 30% coming from domestic institutions and foreign investors.
At the fund management industry development conference in late March, Vu Thi Chan Phuong, Chairwoman of the State Securities Commission (SSC), noted that individual investors still prefer to trade independently and control their investments. The SSC head at the time mentioned the investor restructuring plan to ensure market stability and depth. The agency also aims to train new, non-professional investors who lack the time to monitor the market.
Nguyen Duc Chi, Deputy Minister of Finance, stated that the securities industry needs to reposition investors from "stock playing" to "stock investing."
"We must change the perception of retail investors, encouraging them to entrust their assets and capital to professional fund management companies based on mutual benefit and shared risk," Chi said.
Phuong Dong
