Capital-raising race redraws Vietnam’s brokerage landscape

Vietnam’s securities firms are stepping up a race to raise capital to seize opportunities from the market’s upcoming status upgrade, with brokerages backed by parent banks gaining a clear edge.

Bank-backed brokerages on the rise

In 2025, the Vietnamese stock market reached a historic milestone after FTSE Russell announced an upgrade from frontier to emerging market status in its September 2025 review. The reclassification is expected to take effect in September 2026, subject to the outcome of a mid-term assessment in March 2026.

The upgrade, however, marks only the beginning. Regulators are continuing to roll out measures aimed at improving transparency and aligning Vietnam’s market with global standards.

Securities firms are also preparing for the new landscape, with capital strengthening emerging as a key measure. This has begun to redraw the industry’s map, marked by the strong rise of brokerages with bank backing.

Most recently, another Big 4 bank joined the capital-raising drive. On December 25, the board of directors at Vietcombank approved a plan to increase the charter capital of its wholly-owned subsidiary Vietcombank Securities (VCBS) to VND12.5 trillion dong ($475.6 million) from VND2.5 trillion. The move involves an additional VND10 trillion injection, equivalent to four times VCBS’s pre-raise chartered capital.

Founded in 2002, VCBS is 100% owned by Vietcombank. The last capital injection from the bank was in 2022, when VCBS’s chartered capital was raised from VND1 trillion to VND2.5 trillion (over $95 million).

TPBank (HoSE: TPS) plans to invest nearly VND3.6 trillion (nearly $137 million) in Tien Phong Securities (HoSE: ORS) through the purchase of almost 288 million private placement shares, becoming the parent bank with a 51% stake.

At an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting last week, TPS chairman Nguyen Hong Quan said the firm would fully leverage advantages from TPBank, including funding, customer base, and governance systems, to accelerate business growth.

Earlier, ACB (HoSE: ACB) significantly boosted the capital of its securities arm ACBS from VND3 trillion to VND11 trillion (more than $418.5 million) over the past two years.

In mid-December, MB Securities (HNX: MBS) approved a plan to raise capital from nearly VND6.59 trillion to VND10 trillion ($380.5 million) through the issuance of ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) and offering to existing shareholders.

With a 76.35% stake, parent lender MBBank is expected to inject an additional nearly VND2.55 trillion ($96.9 million) and may purchase unsubscribed shares.

MBS expects the capital increase to be completed by mid-2026, with further fundraising to be considered in 2027-2028 depending on market conditions.

According to MBS executives, Top 1 and 2 brokerages typically have charter capital of VND40-50 trillion ($1.9 billion), while the number of firms exceeding VND20 trillion is rising steadily. Gradually expanding capital scale is therefore seen as essential to maintaining long-term competitiveness.

At such capital levels, many brokerages without bank backing are likely to struggle to keep pace, potentially losing long-term competitive advantages. Several banks, including PGBank, Sacombank, MSB, and SeABank, have also outlined plans to acquire securities firms.

A reshaped map

For years, SSI Securities (HoSE: SSI) dominated the sector in terms of chartered capital and market capitalization, followed by VND, SHS, HCM, VCI, and VIX. That ranking shifted in 2025 with the listings of Techcom Securities (TCBS), VPBank Securities (VPX), and VPS Securities (VCK).

This year, TCBS completed a successful IPO, lifting its charter capital to over VND23.1 trillion ($879.4 million) and listing with a market capitalization of VND105.4 trillion ($4.01 billion), placing it temporarily at the top of the industry by both capital and market value.

VPS Securities and VPBank Securities have also listed on the HoSE, reshuffling the sector’s capitalization rankings. VPS Securities listed nearly 1.5 billion shares, reaching a market value of VND73.8 trillion ($2.81 billion), close to SSI’s VND76.3 trillion. VPBank Securities, with a market capitalization of nearly VND51.3 trillion, has pushed VIX Securities, at VND35.1 trillion, down to fifth place.

The rankings are set to change further as capital-raising plans continue. SSI is offering 415.2 million shares to lift capital to nearly VND25 trillion, while VIX Securities is issuing 919 million shares to raise capital to VND24.5 trillion ($951.2 million). VPS Securities is also conducting a private placement of 161.85 million shares and issuing bonus shares at a 1:1 ratio.

These developments are also reshaping the weight of securities firms within benchmark indices such as the VN30 and VN-Index. At present, SSI is the sole brokerage represented in the VN30. However, once TCBS and VPS meet the six-month listing requirement, they could be considered for inclusion, given their market capitalization levels.