Investors there all said they wish the capital market in Vietnam to further develop because it serves a long-term capital channel for projects not only of Vietnamese but also foreign firms.
According to Mr. Chris Freund, Mekong Capital Director, many regional companies are boosting their presence and penetrating into Vietnam. They are strong in terms of capital and will be motivation for development of the capital market in the country. Moreover, when ODA flow reduces sharply in the future, capital mobilized from the financial market will play an increasingly important role.
One of the reasons for investors to hesitate to do business in Vietnam is low-developed infrastructure for credit rating, which is of great significance to the bond market. Moreover, the 2 important factors that investors care are company’s policy and credit market report. According to Ms. Julie Hunter from ANZ, credit ratings of international standards help gain investors’ confidence. She further said that participation in the Asian Bond Fund (ABF) is good for Vietnam because it helps companies with poor rating access to capital sources more effectively.
Investors pay much attention to the stock market, a part of the capital market. According to Mr. Dominic Scriven, Dragon Capital Director, bold moves by the Vietnamese Government to develop the stock market have facilitated establishment fund management joint ventures and foreign investors to purchase bonds and shares. However, value of transactions in the unofficial market is even much larger.
As estimated, transactions in the official market totaled around $145 million but in the unofficial market, shares worth a total of around $1 billion are traded and it is important to make the later become a part of the former. He also said investors are very optimistic about the capital market of Vietnam for huge saving potential.
The Government encourages diversification of commodities in the capital market such as share, Government bond and corporate bond, said Minister of Finance Nguyen Sinh Hung. Moreover, equitisation must be in parallel with listing shares of equitized companies in the stock market and other support financial services like accounting, auditing, financial consultancy, insurance, etc....
The Government also aims at building a safe, effective stock market, which is capable to connect with stock markets of other countries in the region in the future and luring more foreign investors to join the stock market of Vietnam in many models like investment funds, fund management firms, financial consultancy firms, and so on.

Source: Thời báo Kinh tế Việt Nam, 20/3/2006