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Vietnam may relax foreign ownership rules
Vietnam could raise the ceiling of foreign ownership in its banks to 35 percent from 30 percent and expand the foreign ownership in unlisted companies to 49 percent as it seeks to beef up falling foreign investment.
The steps were among policies the State Securities Commission (SSC), the stock market watchdog, expected to adopt this year "to intercept future opportunities", the Vietnam Economic Times newspaper reported on Saturday.
The SSC would seek government approval to amend a directive so that foreign investors can own 49 percent of a domestic company regardless if it is listed on the stock market or not, a rate now applied only for listed companies.
Foreign investors now can own a maximum 30 percent of a domestic company or bank.
The SSC also proposed that a domestic bank selling a stake of less than 5 percent in itself to a foreign bank would no longer need central bank approval, the Vietnam Economic Times said, citing SSC's action plan for 2009.
The SSC would also seek to further equitize state-owned companies, propose to the government to allow a personal income tax break of up to two years for stock investors, and study the launch of a market stabilizing fund, the newspaper said.
Vietnam has 40 partly private banks and foreign banks have so far bought stakes in 10 of them, including listed Sacombank and Asia Commercial Bank.
Foreign portfolio investment in Vietnam nearly halved to US$4.6 billion in December 2008 from $7.6 billion a year ago. The country's stock market dropped 66 percent in 2008 after a rise of 23 percent the previous year.
Reuters
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