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HASTC to become stock exchange
The Government has approved the Ha Noi Securities Trading Centre's plans to become the Ha Noi Stock Exchange.
Decision 01-2009/QD-TTg, issued Tuesday, says the new exchange, with charter capital of VND1 trillion (US$58.8 million), will operate as a single - member State-owned limited company.
It will be subject to independent audit.
The decision stipulates that the new exchange will continue to have the rights and responsibilities of the securities trading centre.
Ha Noi Securities Trading Centre director Nguyen Vu Quang Trung said yesterday that although he had yet to be officially notified of the decision, he had read about it on the Government website.
"We proposed the conversion long ago and it's good to have finally been given the nod," he said.
A stock exchange would help raise transparency for investors.
State Securities Commission Market Development Department director Nguyen Son said the conversion to a stock exchange would take time.
"It's a long and complicated process," he said.
"It does not mean that the government has said the centre will become the exchange tomorrow".
The Ha Noi Securities Trading Centre opened in 2005, and manages securities trading of the listed firms with charter capital of over VND5 billion ($294,117).
Small caps northbound
All firms with charter capital of less than VND80 billion ($4.7 million) listed with the HCM City Stock Exchange will have to transfer to the Ha Noi Securities Trading Centre by February 9 to meet the provisions of Government Decree 14/ND-CP.
"The question I ask myself is can the Ha Noi Centre upgrade its criteria for listed firms when it changes to an exchange?" said Tung Linh, who holds shares in Nhi Hiep Brisk - one of the companies listed for transfer.
"And if the answer is yes, where will my shares go?"
Many investors with shares in similar companies listed on the HCM City Stock Exchange are asking the same question.
But Ha Noi Securities Trading Centre director Nguyen Vu Quang Trung said the transfer would happen as a matter of course because the Government's decision ensured that all the rights and responsibilities of the trading centre would be maintained.
HCM City Stock Exchange spokesperson Le Hai Tra said the exchange would support listed companies making the compulsory transfer to protect both them and investors.
"The movement is necessary to increase the transparency for investors because each exchange has its own criteria for providing investors with specific goods," he said.
Viet Nam News
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