Finance minister rules out proposal to rise minimum trading lot to 1,000 shares

Nguyen Tung 14:42, 2021/03/10

The finance ministry plans to adopt the current software system on the Hanoi Stock Exchange for the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange to address the overload, saying the process would take up to four months to complete.

Vietnam’s stock market in short-term would not raise the minimum trading lot from 100 to 1,000 shares.

Overload issue is causing frustration among investors. Photo: Tran Quynh

Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung made the statement in a meeting with Vietnam’s leading technology group FPT on March 9, discussing solutions to address the overload of orders that led to interruption of trading in the market.

“Public firms, however, are encouraged to move their stocks from Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HOSE) to Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) to ease the overload issue on the former and ensure the safety for the entire system,” said Dung.

The Vietnam Association of Securities Businesses (VASB) previously expressed concern over the prospect of raising the minimum trading lot as this would limit the participation of small investors, while the vision for stock market is to ensure fairness and equality.

As concern over the issue is mounting and causing frustration among investors, Minister Dung has instructed the establishment of a taskforce led by Deputy Minister Huynh Quang Hai with the objective of resolving the issue substantially.

At the meeting with FPT, Dung asked for greater urgency in dealing with the issue, requiring both short-term and long-term solutions.

Both the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and FPT shared a view that it is feasible to adopt the current software system on the HNX for HOSE, as it takes up to four months to complete and effectively end the current overload issue.

Dung requested stock market authorities to cooperate with FPT in speeding up the process, expecting no disruption to the market and investors activities during the period.

FPT Chairman Truong Gia Binh expressed his commitment in working with the MoF to resolve the issue in a shortest time possible.

During the event “Dialogue 2045” on March 6 between government leaders and the business community, Binh and other business leaders suggested Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc should allow private firms to address the overload issue on HOSE without using funding from the state budget.