International capital flow after upgrade increases sharply compared to expectations
The fact that Vietnamese stocks are upgraded to the secondary emerging market not only expands the opportunity to attract international capital but also shows that initial disbursement signals are more positive than expected.
Mr. Bui Hoang Hai - Vice Chairman of the State Securities Commission (SSC) - said that the level of interest of international financial institutions in the Vietnamese market is reflected in the presence of major asset management names such as Vanguard, BlackRock. The total managed assets of organizations attending the conference amounted to tens of trillions of USD.
Vanguard expects to allocate about 2.5 billion USD to the Vietnamese market in one year, significantly higher than the initial estimate of about 1.6 billion USD. In the first phase, the expected disbursed capital is about 250 million USD, equivalent to 10% of the above-mentioned total scale.
According to Mr. Hai, one of the factors helping the expected capital scale increase is the weight of Vietnamese stocks in the related portfolio adjusted from about 0.32% to 0.49%, an increase of more than 50%, in addition to the increase in the fund's asset scale.
Positive initial capital flows pose a requirement to continue improving market quality after upgrades.
The SSC is researching and deploying new products and services, and at the same time coordinating with ministries and sectors to complete solutions to support foreign investors, including exchange rate risk hedging tools.
Vietnam's proportion in international index sets may increase
Mr. Duncan Burns - Director in charge of Global Investment and Stock Management for Asia-Pacific at Vanguard - said that this organization will continue to invest more than 2.5 billion USD, equivalent to about 65,000 billion VND, in Vietnam.
Through Vanguard's diverse investment portfolios, investors who have never directly come to Vietnam can also participate in the market and access assets in Vietnam.
Mr. Pankaj Mataney - Managing Director for Platform Business and Strategy of Morgan Stanley's Asia Regional Index - said that the figure of 2.5 billion USD is just a starting point for capital inflows into the market.
This is not a fixed number," said Pankaj Mataney. According to him, the capital flow space needs to be viewed throughout the market development process, with the participation of passive funds, active funds and the compliance with regulations on foreign ownership ratio limits.
With more listed companies and the scale of businesses continuing to grow, Vietnam's proportion in international index sets may increase accordingly.
He also predicted that if the current conditions are maintained, the trading volume in the market could increase beyond 800 million USD in the next year.
At the Workshop "Effectively mobilizing capital sources, serving the goal of double-digit growth" organized by Lao Dong Newspaper in coordination with the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Vietnam on March 12, 2026, attracting international capital through upgrading the stock market was one of the contents emphasized by delegates.
Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Duc Chi said that upgrading is a milestone recognized by international financial institutions for the Vietnamese market. The goal is to bring the market to operate according to new standards, while attracting more capital from foreign investors and organizations.
