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Lack of bilingual reports ‘major barrier’ for foreign investors in Vietnam: HDCapital Exec.

HDCapital’s, General Director, Nguyen Thanh Long, has told a forum that just 10 percent of listed firms in Vietnam provide bilingual reports and that this is “a major barrier in accessing international investors”, according to reporting from Tuoi Tre. He also noted that just 60 percent of listed firms meet Vietnam stock market disclosure standards.

Of note, Vietnam is currently courting an upgrade from FTSE Russell and MSCI from a frontier market to a secondary emerging market and an emerging market, respectively. One issue raised has been disclosure standards.

Specifically, the lack of communication materials in English, in particular, has been referenced as a barrier for foreign investors. Information disclosures are often circulated in Vietnamese before an English copy is made available. Furthermore, it is not uncommon for information disclosures to be scanned copies of printed documents rather than dynamic PDFs that can be translated online. This can give local traders a time advantage over foreign investors.

On top of that, disclosures on the HoSE are often late, sometimes by months or even in some cases years. Vietnam Airlines’ audited financial statements for 2022, due in early 2023 were not made available until December of that year.

That said, Nguyen notes that 60 percent is a marked improvement from 10 years ago when just 10 percent of firms met disclosure standards.See also: Vietnam Securities Industry

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