Banking & Finance

Forbes announced the Top 50 best listed companies in Vietnam in 2022 in early August, in which the banking sector has seven representatives: Vietcombank, Vietinbank, BIDV, VIB, ACB, MB, and TPBank.

According to the Ministry of Finance (MoF), corporate bonds are mostly purchased by credit institutions and securities companies, who often then sell them on to individual investors, resulting in the volume of bonds held by these investors standing at 32.6 per cent. In order for the bond market to develop transparently and effectively, the MoF will report to the National Assembly on amending a number of provisions in the Law on Securities and the Law on Enterprises.

According to FiinRatings, though it will not be as vibrant as it was in the second half of 2021, the corporate bond market will gradually return to greater activity at the beginning of the fourth quarter of this year when the amended Decree No. 153 is issued and officially takes effect.

According to the General Department of Taxation, the total amount of taxes owed as of the end of July was estimated at VND133.639 trillion ($5.71 billion), an increase of 16.2 per cent compared to the end of 2021 and 17 per cent year-on-year.

The VND270 trillion ($11.5 billion) in bonds approaching maturity combined with the impact of shrinking credit lines are creating a great deal of concern at banks. The State Bank of Vietnam has also said that bad real estate debts are showing signs of increasing rapidly, reaching more than VND36 trillion ($1.5 billion) as of June 30, up 5 per cent compared to the end of 2021.

As of the end of 2021, Vietnam’s public debt totaled VND3.7 quadrillion ($158.88 billion), accounting for 43.1 per cent of GDP. According to the Ministry of Finance, the ratio of public debt to GDP is gradually declining, as is outstanding foreign loans, while domestic loans of the government are increasing rapidly. This helps ensure public debt safety and national financial security.