Vietnam has tried to meet FTSE Russell's upgrading criteria
On the morning of September 15, 2025 (local time), in London (UK), Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang and the working delegation of the Ministry of Finance had a working session with the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
In his welcoming speech, Minister Nguyen Van Thang highly appreciated the cooperation between LSE and FTSE Russell with the State Securities Commission (SSC) of Vietnam in the past time, updating the development situation of the Vietnamese economy and stock market.
The Minister also informed that during this working trip, the State Securities Commission - represented by Ms. Vu Thi Chan Phuong will also have a direct working session with FTSE Russell here to discuss issues on upgrading the Vietnamese stock market. The Ministry of Finance will also organize an Investment Promotion Conference in London at the working session on the morning of September 16 (local time) to inform investors in the London financial market about the Vietnamese financial market in the most complete way.
Informing about the economic situation and stock market of Vietnam, the Minister said that in the first 8 months of 2025, the Vietnamese economy continued to record many positive signals.
GDP growth in the second quarter of 2025 reached 7.96% and the Government is setting a growth target for this year of 8.3% - 8.5%. Attracting foreign investment increased sharply compared to the same period last year. In the first 8 months of 2025, the total newly registered investment capital, adjusted and contributed capital to buy shares and purchase capital contributions from foreign investors reached nearly 26.1 billion USD, an increase of 27.3% over the same period. Import-export turnover of goods increased by 16.3%, reaching 598 billion USD.
Regarding the stock market, by the end of August 2025, the total stock market capitalization reached nearly 352 billion USD, equivalent to 79.5% of estimated GDP in 2024. Market liquidity increased significantly, with some sessions trading at over 3 billion USD. Since the beginning of the year, the average trading value/session has reached more than 1.1 billion USD/session, ranking among the most vibrant groups in the ASEAN region.
At the meeting, Ms. Julia Hoggett - General Director of LSE took the time to share about LSE's activities; and discussed cooperation initiatives in the context of Vietnam actively implementing solutions to upgrade the stock market such as: cooperation between FTSE Russell and UBCKNN to remove obstacles in the upgrade criteria; signing MOU to cooperate in developing the index between VNX and FTSE Russell...
Providing more information on the issue of upgrading, Minister Nguyen Van Thang said that in the recent past, the Vietnamese Government has made efforts to focus on implementing upgrading solutions.
Up to now, Vietnam has tried to meet the upgrading criteria of the FTSE organization. We have had strong reforms and decisions such as synchronously issuing many mechanisms and policies that take effect immediately to immediately create favorable conditions for foreign investment flows to participate in the Vietnamese stock market" - the Minister said.
LSE will be the "gateway" connecting the Vietnamese market with the world market
In the spirit of cooperation and sustainable development, the Minister also emphasized the proposal of a number of cooperation orientations between Vietnam and LSE in the coming time.
Vietnam wishes to increase the exchange of experiences in building and perfecting the legal framework, market monitoring mechanism, application of international standards on corporate governance, information disclosure and promoting sustainable growth (ESG), thereby improving transparency, safety and global integration...
The Minister also proposed promoting joint investment promotion programs and promotional activities to build and connect more deeply between Vietnamese enterprises and international investors, especially in the UK and Europe.
Vietnam also hopes to share experiences in training, raising market awareness, enhancing capacity for financial human resources - securities and applying financial technology (Fintech, AI, Blockchain).
With close cooperation, support and assistance from LSE, the Vietnamese stock market in particular and the Vietnamese financial market in general will increasingly develop strongly, contributing positively to the common prosperity of the two countries, as well as the region and the world the Minister believes.
Ms. Julia Hoggett expressed her high unity and confidence in the development of the Vietnamese stock market in the coming time. For its part, LSE will continue to promote cooperation to support the Vietnamese stock market in the issue of upgrading to emerging market. Ms. Julia Hoggett expects the cooperation between the two sides to have new developments and LSE will be an effective "gateway" for the Vietnamese market to connect with many other markets in the world.
At the end of the meeting, the leaders of both sides agreed to continue to strengthen cooperation in many aspects, thereby supporting the Vietnamese stock market to attract more and more international investment capital.
Also in the working program, at LSE headquarters, under the witness of Minister Nguyen Van Thang; Ambassador Do Minh Hung; Chairman of the State Bank of Vietnam Vu Thi Chan Phuong; General Director of LSE Julia Hoggett; Director of Global Policy FTSE David Sol, Vietnam Joint Stock Company (VNX) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with FTSE International Limited (FTSE) - officially establishing a strategic cooperative relationship to improve capital market infrastructure and promote Vietnam's international integration.
The experience of the Minister of Finance demonstrated Vietnam's strong commitment to efforts to develop the Vietnamese stock market and expand international cooperation.
