Vietnam gov’t removes curbs on retail investors in private bond offerings

The Vietnamese government has dropped initially drafted restrictions on retail investors of corporate bonds via private placements in a move to beef up the local stock market after recent financial scandals.

The move was mentioned in a draft law presented by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc at a National Assembly session on Tuesday.

Such draft law is meant to amend seven finance-related ones, namely the Laws on Securities, Accounting, Independent Audit, State Budget, Public Asset Management and Use, Tax Management, and National Reserves.

Individual investors are allowed to buy and trade privately placed corporate bonds only when the issuers are rated, and the bonds are backed with collateral and underwritten by banks.

Under the Law on Securities 2019, professional stock individual investors are defined as holders of listed securities with transactions worth at least VND2 billion ($79,020) or taxable income of at least VND1 billion.

The new law tightens the criteria regarding the period of being an investor and the frequency of trading.

Notably, the law stipulates that foreign individuals and institutions are also considered professional stock investors.

The law adds prohibited acts in stock trading, including stock market manipulation and failure to disclose information ahead of share transactions by internal shareholders and related parties.

The local corporate bond market stalled after the arrests of high-profile businesspeople. In April 2022, Do Anh Dung, chairman of luxury property Tan Hoang Minh Group was arrested for fraudulent appropriation of VND8.6 trillion ($339.8 million) in bond sale proceeds. In September 2024, he was sentenced to seven years in prison.

In October 2022, Truong My Lan, chairwoman of real estate company Van Thinh Phat Group, was detained on charges of fraudulent bond issuances and trading.

She was handed down a death sentence earlier this year for the largest-ever bank fraud, and sentenced to life in prison in a second trial after being convicted of additional charges that included misappropriating about VND30 trillion ($1.19 billion) from investors via bond issuances.