Meeting capital needs for high growth targets
Speaking at the seminar "Solutions for synchronous capital market development" organized by Nha Dau Tu Magazine on July 23, Ms. Ha Thu Giang - Director of the Credit Department for Economic Sectors, State Bank of Vietnam - said that as of July 13, 2026, outstanding credit balance for the whole economy reached nearly 20.1 million billion VND, an increase of 7.86% compared to the end of 2025.
Thus, in just over the first half of the year, the banking system has supplied about 1.46 million billion VND to the economy. However, the pressure to supply capital to the banking system is increasing when the demand for social investment capital in 2026 is expected to be about 5.1 million billion VND, while the 2026-2030 period is up to 38.5 million billion VND.
In that context, the stock market is expected to continue to play its role as a medium and long-term capital channel of the economy.
Mr. Ha Duy Tung - Vice Chairman of the State Securities Commission - said that as of June 30, 2026, the market capitalization of stocks reached about 10.8 million billion VND, equivalent to 82.6% of the estimated GDP in 2025. The market size of listed bonds reached about 2.8 million billion VND.
According to Mr. Tung, FTSE Russell's upgrade of the Vietnamese stock market, expected to take effect from September 21, 2026, will create more opportunities to attract international capital flows. However, the greater significance lies in the pressure of reform, forcing the market to continue to handle bottlenecks in pre-trading margins, information disclosure in English and procedures for opening accounts for foreign investors.
Upgrading the stock market is not the ultimate goal, but a strategic lever to build a professional, transparent capital market that is close to global financial standards," Mr. Ha Duy Tung affirmed.
Improving market quality to retain large capital flows
From the perspective of market members, Mr. Nguyen Duy Linh - General Director of Saigon - Hanoi Securities Company (SHS) - said that being upgraded by FTSE Russell is just the beginning.
To open the market in a substantive way, Vietnam must simultaneously remove obstacles regarding foreign ownership limits, foreign ownership room at each enterprise and the ratio of freely transferable shares. Although the legal framework has improved a lot, the amount of shares that can actually be traded in many enterprises is still low, limiting the disbursement capacity of large funds.
Mr. Linh analyzed that most of the market capitalization is currently concentrated in three groups of industries: banking, real estate and financial services. Meanwhile, sectors with long-term growth potential such as consumption, technology, semiconductor, innovation and green energy still account for a limited proportion.
According to Mr. Linh, the diversification of listed companies' industries will determine the ability to retain capital flows after the upgrade. A market that is upgraded but lacks good businesses, lacks choice and has a low proportion of freely traded stocks still finds it difficult to attract sustainable international cash flow.
Along with improving the quality of goods, the investor structure also needs to be adjusted. Vietnam currently has about 13 million securities accounts, but individual investors still account for the majority, making the market easily fluctuate strongly in the face of psychological changes.
Therefore, it is necessary to remove barriers to develop investment funds and attract more institutional investors at home and abroad. When long-term capital flows account for a larger proportion, the market will be more stable, while improving the absorption capacity of large-scale IPOs and issuances.
Restoring investor confidence, developing corporate bond market
Besides the stock market, the recovery of the corporate bond market is also considered an important condition for expanding medium and long-term capital channels.
Mr. Nguyen Khac Hai - Director of the Law and Compliance Control Division, SSI Securities Joint Stock Company - said that the scale of the Vietnamese capital market is currently only equivalent to about 15-17% of GDP, of which the corporate bond market accounts for only about 6-7% of GDP, still small compared to the capital needs of the economy.
According to Mr. Hai, after many policy adjustments, the legal framework for the corporate bond market has gradually become more balanced between the requirement to control risks and create conditions for development. New regulations require businesses to use capital in accordance with the announced plan, raise conditions for professional individual investors, increase the role of credit rating and clarify the responsibilities of each issuer.
However, as the legal framework gradually improves, the decisive factor still lies in the implementation stage. Businesses must mobilize capital for effective projects, use capital for the right purpose, fully fulfill the obligation to disclose information and ensure the ability to repay principal and interest.
Only when the legal framework is implemented seriously, transparently and synchronously, can investor confidence be sustainably restored, thereby bringing the corporate bond market back to its role as a medium and long-term capital channel for the economy," Mr. Hai assessed.
