HCMC
Decision 1392 Gives Hybrid Bond Issuers a Formal SSC Registration Path
Decision 1392/QD-BTC, effective June 7, 2026, creates Vietnam's first codified SSC registration procedures for convertible bonds and bonds with warrants — with a 7-working-day clock.
Decree 200 Replaces Vietnam's Crisis-Era Bond Rules With Credit Discipline
Decree 200/2026/ND-CP, effective June 5, replaces Decree 153/2020 with a credit-rating-anchored regime and a VND 2 billion retail investor threshold.
Decree 85 Cuts Vietnam's Pension Bond Floor to 40% and Opens Corporate Debt
Decree 85/2026/ND-CP, effective May 10, cuts the government-bond floor to 40%, admits credit-rated corporate bonds, and raises the fund-manager bar — but a VND 1M tax deduction ceiling still caps growth. Until that changes, voluntary take-up will stay limited by weak incentives.
Real Estate Bonds Rise 278% as Three Conglomerates Take Half the Market
Real estate now holds 54.1% of Vietnam's VND 124.5 trillion private placement bond market as banks retreat; three conglomerates account for 54.1% of all issuance.
Circular 08/2026: Vietnam's Global Broker Model Is Now Live — and the FTSE Clock Is Running
SSI and Virtu Financial executed Vietnam's first live trade under Circular 08's Global Broker model on 2 June 2026 — months before FTSE's September review.
Vietnam Taps Singapore to Close MSCI Demand Gap
MoF Minister Ngo Van Tuan and MAS Managing Director Chia Der Jiun agreed May 29 to explore depositary receipts and share Singapore's institutional investor playbook — targeting MSCI, not just FTSE.
Vietnam Private Capital Hits $4.5B Record as Exits Stall
Vietnam deployed $4.5B in private capital across 149 deals in 2025 — yet no VC or PE-backed company has exited via IPO in over five years.
Vietnam's FTSE Upgrade Hits Supply Wall, SSC Chair Says
FTSE EM inclusion starts September 21, 2026 — but fewer than 20 FDI firms list on HOSE/HNX and SOE free-floats sit at 1–10%, threatening actual capital inflows.
Decree 245 and Nasdaq MoU Reshape VIFC Capital Markets
Decree 245 cuts Vietnamese listing timelines from 90 to 30 days and drops SSC overseas approval. Here is what that means for cross-listing candidates.
HDBank Q1 2026: The CAR Improvement That Makes the Green Bond Real
HDBank's CAR rose 184 bps to 16.16% in Q1 2026 — the capital metric underpinning Moody's 'Positive' outlook and a $300M green bond pipeline.
Decree 145/2026: How Vietnam's Market Infrastructure Gets Financially Governed — and Why Carbon Credits Are Now Part of It
Decree 145/2026, effective 22 June 2026, rewrites the financial management rules for VNX and VSDC — and adds carbon credit clearing to VSDC's statutory mandate.
LPBank Becomes the Eighth Bank to Approve a VIFC Subsidiary — and the First to Name Digital Assets
LPBank's 28 April AGM unanimously approved a VIFC subsidiary — the eighth in 2026 — and the first to explicitly cite digital asset management as a target service.
HDBank, the LSE, and the VIFC: How Vietnam's London Capital Markets Corridor Actually Works
HDBank's LSE partnership creates a named pathway for Vietnamese firms to access London capital markets. Three corporates are already onboard.
Vietnam Property Tax Reform: What the 2026 Roadmap Means for Real Estate Investors
Vietnam's property tax reform is moving on two tracks: a near-term amendment to the Non-Agricultural Land Use Tax Law for October 2026, and a longer-horizon Property Tax Law aimed at curbing speculation.
SBV Moves Payment Licence Admin to Regional Branches
Circular 22/2026, effective May 19, moves payment licence amendments and lost-licence reissuance from SBV Hanoi to regional branches — reducing administrative overhead for HCMC-based operators.
SBV Biometric Rule Extends to Card Issuance, Closing Gap Left by Circular 77
Circular 45/2025, in force since January 5, 2026, requires biometric verification against the CCCD chip before any new bank card can be issued or activated for electronic transactions.
Vietnam Bill Opens SME Loans to Digital-Asset Collateral
Vietnam's MoF draft SME law would recognise digital assets as loan collateral — a first for mainstream banking, with a July 2027 target date.
SBV–RBI MoU Opens India Corridor for the VIFC
The SBV–RBI MoU signed 5 May 2026 targets QR code retail payment linkages — not full UPI interoperability — but opens a corridor unlike any other the VIFC has.
Vietnam Scraps Bank Data-Sharing Rule After MoF–SBV Standoff
Vietnam's MoF dropped mandatory bank-taxpayer data sharing after SBV cited banking secrecy law, data architecture gaps, and technical infeasibility at scale.
Resolution 05's RWA Issuance Framework: The Compliance Checklist for Tokenized Asset Issuers
Resolution 05/2025 lets Vietnamese LLCs tokenize real-world assets for foreign investors — here is every issuer obligation, from Form No. 01 to 10-year data retention.
Decree 94's P2P Sandbox: The Foreign Ownership Bar and What It Means for VIFC Firms
Decree 94/2025/ND-CP bars foreign-owned enterprises from Vietnam's P2P lending sandbox — and the term 'foreign-owned' remains undefined, raising EVFTA and CPTPP treaty questions.
IMFE Launch Targets Vietnam's $6–8B Maritime-Finance Leakage
VIFC-HCMC launched the IMFE on May 21 with Gemadept as founding lead — a three-phase platform targeting the $6–8B in maritime financial value Vietnam loses offshore annually.
Decree 323 Pitches VIFC Sandbox as 30-Year Bond Lab
PM Le Minh Hung's April 2026 directive on 15-30 year infrastructure bonds meets a novel proposal: use the VIFC's Decree 323 sandbox to pilot VND sovereign debt for foreign buyers.
MSC Bets $5B on Vietnam's Can Gio Transshipment Hub
HCMC approved a VND 128 trillion ($5B) transshipment port joint venture between Saigon Port JSC and MSC's TIL in late April 2026 — Vietnam's largest maritime infrastructure deal in years.
AAFH Deal Stack: High Ridge Aviation, 44 Aircraft, and What the $6.1B Actually Represents
High Ridge Aviation — PIMCO's JV, not PIMCO itself — holds the Vietjet financing deal. The Pratt & Whitney agreement covers exactly 44 A321NEO and A321XLR aircraft.
Decree 198 Thins the SBV Unit That Clears Foreign Banks Into the VIFC
Decree 198/2026 cuts SBV's International Cooperation Department from 5 to 3 divisions and renames Credit and Forecasting units, effective 1 July 2026.
SBV's Draft AI Circular: Six Compliance Layers Banks Must Build by September 2027
The SBV's draft AI circular imposes six compliance layers on banks under Law 134/2025/QH15, with a September 2027 deadline for existing systems.
Decree 324 Lifts M&A Cap as 50% Control Trigger Looms
Decree 324 removes foreign ownership caps and M&A registration for most VIFC deals — but Article 6.2's 50% threshold redefines a buyer's mainland Vietnam investment rights permanently.
Circular 09 Updates Custody Rules for SBV Repos and OMOs
Circular 09/2026/TT-NHNN, effective July 4, takes effect just as VIFC subsidiary banks go live — here is what compliance and treasury teams must act on.
Law 150 Opens VIFC Court to Foreign Judges and Foreign Law
Law 150/2025/QH15, effective 1 January 2026, creates Vietnam's first state court eligible to seat foreign judges and apply foreign law — but an undefined 'public order' carve-out creates uncertainty.
SBV's Draft Circular on FDI Forex: Pre-IRC Accounts and the First IFC-to-Mainland Capital Category
SBV's draft replacement for Circular 06/2019 lets foreign investors open capital accounts before IRC approval and creates the first explicit regulatory category for IFC-to-mainland capital flows.
No More Forced VND Conversion: What Circular 72 Actually Means for Inbound Capital
Circular 72 abolished Vietnam's mandatory VND conversion for VIFC-bound foreign capital — here is what that means in practice for foreign LPs and asset managers.
SBV Sets 15% Credit Ceiling for 2026 as Deposit Rates Hit Cycle Peak
Vietnam's SBV set a 15% credit growth ceiling for 2026 — down from 19% actual in 2025 — as deposit rates hit cycle peaks at 12 banks.
Decree 323's Supremacy Clause Gives the VIFC Power to Override Vietnamese Law — if the Rules Get Written
Decree 323 lets the VIFC's Executive Council override conflicting Vietnamese law — but the Operational Regulations that activate the power remain unwritten.
VIFC's Four Operational Tests That Incentives Cannot Pass
A MoF policy economist names four operational tests that will determine whether VIFC-HCMC becomes a real IFC — and three product niches where Vietnam can outflank Singapore.
Draft Urban Law Targets the Capital Trap at the Heart of the VIFC
Capital raised inside the VIFC becomes foreign investment the moment it crosses the 898-hectare perimeter — and the Draft Law on Special Urban Areas contains the most concrete proposed fix to date.
Singapore Backs VIFC Commercial Court in May 29 MOU
Singapore and Vietnam signed an MOU on 29 May 2026 to jointly develop the VIFC Specialised Commercial Court — the first bilateral partnership to operationalise Law 150's judicial framework.
VIFC Posts 38 Members in First Institutional Scoreboard
Vietnam's MoF disclosed 38 formal VIFC registrations across both nodes on May 25 — the first official membership count, against 'hundreds' of expressions of interest.
Decree 329's AA- Floor Is Blocking JPMorgan, MUFG, and Bank of America from the VIFC
Decree 329 requires AA-/Aa3 credit ratings for foreign bank VIFC licences — a threshold that blocks JPMorgan, MUFG, Bank of China, and over 10 other named institutions.
VIFC's Eight Implementing Decrees: A Practitioner's Reference Map
All eight VIFC implementing decrees (323–330) were enacted on 18 December 2025. Here is the practitioner's reference map.
HCMC's Davos Playbook: The On-Chain Partnerships Behind the Headlines
HCMC's Davos delegation signed two on-chain MoUs and studied Lugano's crypto-city model. Here is what each engagement actually involved.
VIFC-HCMC's Growth Engine Architecture: What the Strategic Positioning Actually Means for International Firms
Vietnam's VIFC is designed as economic infrastructure, not a standalone marketplace. What $9 billion in early commitments reveals.
Decree 323 Explained: How Vietnam's VIFC Will Actually Be Governed
The 'one centre, two locations' model, 17 priority sectors, and who controls what — Decree 323 decoded for financial institutions and legal teams planning VIFC entry.
VIFC Personal Income Tax Exemption: What Finance Professionals Actually Keep Until 2030
Decree 324/2025/ND-CP, in force since 18 December 2025, exempts qualifying VIFC professionals from PIT on employment income until end of 2030.
Living in Ho Chi Minh City: Expat Guide for VIFC Finance Professionals
A practical guide to living in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam — neighborhoods, housing costs, international schools, healthcare, transport, and what to expect relocating to the VIFC's main financial hub.
Moving to Vietnam: Visas, Work Permits, Banking & Practical Essentials
Vietnam visas, work permits, banking, housing, international schools, and cost of living — everything a finance professional relocating to Ho Chi Minh City or Da Nang for the VIFC needs to know.