Banking & Finance

The corporate bond market is expected to continue to develop this year, with expansions seen in the size and diversity of products and with an increasingly complete legal framework that ensures sustainable development. Low interest rates will also work in the market’s favor.

Vietnam’s fintech market has made great strides forward in recent years, especially in the banking and finance sector, which is posting among the highest growth in Southeast Asia. Fintech businesses are therefore in need of a legal corridor to avoid unnecessary risks and tighten their relationships with banks.

The Ministry of Finance will implement government Decree No. 15 from February 1 on tax exemptions and reductions to support socio-economic recovery and development. Many goods and services are entitled to a VAT reduction of 8 per cent, which is estimated to cost VND49.4 trillion ($2.18 billion).

In line with not-overly-optimistic forecasts regarding foreign transactions on Vietnam’s stock market in 2022, foreign investors continued to strongly net sell in January, to the tune of 218 million shares worth VND3.4 trillion ($150.19 million). Foreign investors net sold more than VND60 trillion ($2.65 billion) in 2021 as a whole, after starting to net sell in 2020 when Covid-19 broke out.

The cash flow of domestic individual investors into the stock market this year is not expected to grow as strongly as in 2021 because of many factors, such as trading profits becoming more difficult to record and the government tightening the flow of money into the stock market and real estate market.

In its capital arrangement plan to 2030, HSBC commits to financing $12 billion to help Vietnam achieve net-zero emissions. It was the underwriter of green bonds, social bonds, sustainable bonds, and sustainability-linked bonds last year, and is Asia’s largest, with a trading volume nearly double compared to 2020.