The State Securities Commission (SSC) is expected to submit to the Government a plan to merge the two stock exchanges into a single entity: the Vietnam Stock Exchange (VSE).
SSC Chairman Vu Bang made this announcement at a workshop held in Hanoi last month to discuss measures to perform securities market development tasks in 2014.
Under the plan, in the second quarter of this year, the Prime Minister will approve the consolidation of the Hanoi Stock Exchange and the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange into the VSE with a single board of directors and a single control board.
The plan is divided into two phases. Between 2015 and 2020, the VSE will be a state-run business operating as a single-member limited liability company with charter capital fully owned by the State. After 2020, it will operate as a joint-stock company with the State holding 75-90 percent stake. All of its member securities companies will be permitted to purchase 10-25 percent stake.
The SSC will plan to diversify its products by developing the infrastructure for derivatives and draft a regulation to instruct the trading of derivatives such as index futures and bond futures. It will also focus on establishing a local exchange-traded fund (ETF) this year.
To restructure securities companies and businesses, by the end of 2014, 24 securities companies and six fund management companies will be reorganized and withdraw from the stock market by dissolving or halting operations.
Vu Bang also noted that apart from 10 current open-ended funds, five more funds would be established.
