Banking & Finance

Vietnam is one of the first countries in Southeast Asia to successfully implement national tax rights for foreign enterprises conducting cross-border e-commerce. After more than five months of operating a portal for foreign suppliers, 30 companies voluntarily declared and paid taxes of more than VND520 billion ($22 million). To continue to strictly control taxes in this area, the General Department of Taxation is building a portal to receive information from e-commerce platforms.

The USD/VND exchange rate depreciated 0.5 per cent in August and there is pressure on the local currency. With stable macro-economic indicators and flexible management adopted by the State Bank of Vietnam, however, securities companies believe the VND will not depreciate by more than 3 per cent this year.

A decline in the number of new individual securities accounts was first seen in July and continued into August, falling by 22.1 per cent year-on-year to 155,000. Domestic individual investors, meanwhile, continued to be net sellers in August for the fourth consecutive month.

Positive inner-strength will be a driving force supporting the stock market in September, according to Rong Viet Securities (VDSC). It said that Vietnam’s macro data is stronger than expected and regulators are implementing measures to boost transactions in the stock market. In the short term, investors should pay attention to oil and gas stocks and others in industries such as banking, food & beverages, and retail.

The CIR (Cost to Income Ratio) at ten of the 17 banks listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) fell in the first half of 2022. Of note, the CIR of Eximbank, Sacombank, and LienVietPostBank fell 17 per cent, 9.9 per cent, and 9 per cent, respectively, compared to the first half of 2021. While LienVietPostBank’s CIR fell to 35.5 per cent, Eximbank and Sacombank’s fell sharply but were still above 40 per cent.

To promote the interest rate support program from the State budget for loans to businesses, cooperatives, and business households, which has now been implemented for three months, the State Bank of Vietnam has required that commercial banks review efforts and notify eligible customers.