Prime Minister requests review of virtual securities accounts

The above direction is stated in the Official Dispatch on strengthening solutions for developing the stock market signed by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on December 13. The review of investor data will generally be carried out before cleaning data at securities companies.

Previously, the head of the Government requested the State Securities Commission, a unit under the management of the Ministry of Finance, to connect to the national population database to clean up data of securities trading participants in November.

In fact, after a series of hundreds of thousands of new accounts added each month, the market witnessed a net decrease in the number of accounts for the first time, reaching more than 377,000 in October, according to data from the Vietnam Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation (VSDC).

Specifically, in October, only 167,659 new accounts were opened but the number of closed accounts was up to 545,386. Of which, 99% of closed accounts were at MB Securities Company (MBS). Besides MBS, no other securities company has proactively announced the results of the review.

Currently, the number of accounts as of October 31 is more than 7.45 million at 76 securities companies, of which 99.7% are personal accounts. Since the beginning of the year, the number of closed accounts has tended to increase due to the regulation that each investor is only allowed to open 1 account at each securities company.

The ease of opening accounts without control leads to subjects taking advantage of renting or asking others to use their names to buy and sell, creating fake supply and demand, pushing up prices, and selling for illegal profits. Typical cases include Mr. Trinh Van Quyet and his accomplices in the FLC "family" stock group, or Do Thanh Nhan and Tri Viet Securities in the Louis "family" stock group, Nguyen Do Lang and his accomplices in the Apec "family" stock group...

In this dispatch, the Prime Minister assessed that in the coming time, the international financial and monetary market will have many complex and unpredictable fluctuations, affecting the capital, currency and stock markets.

In order for the market to develop safely and transparently, the Prime Minister requested that solutions be soon found to upgrade the market from a frontier market to an emerging one. This process aims to help the market attract foreign investment capital and institutional investment funds.

Currently, two market rating organizations, MSCI and FTSE Russell, rank Vietnam in Group 3 - frontier market. FTSE Russell alone puts Vietnam on the waiting list for upgrading to Group 2 - emerging market. At the September review, FTSE Russell continued to keep Vietnam on the watch list for upgrading to secondary emerging market.

In addition, the Ministry of Finance must closely monitor domestic and international developments and capital flows into and out of the market to avoid risks and insecurity. The Ministry must also review policies, monitor and strictly handle violations, improve the quality of goods in the stock market, and improve the operational efficiency of market members, securities companies, and fund managers.

The head of the Government also noted the diversification of investors in the direction of attracting the participation of institutional investors, professional investors, and funds. For individual investors, he requested that management agencies proactively provide information and provide training in financial and securities knowledge.

The Ministry of Public Security is assigned to coordinate with the Ministry of Finance and the State Securities Commission to develop solutions to prevent, combat and strictly handle acts of cyber attacks, intrusions, fraud and appropriation of investors' money in securities transactions on cyberspace.