SSC was implementing measures to co-ordinate with auditors to raise the standards of the current audit reports. — Photo ndh.vn

Viet Nam's stock markets had reached approximately 81 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as of March 18, up 14 per cent compared to the end of 2018.

The information was released by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) at a press conference last week.

According to Deputy Chairman of the State Securities Commission (SSC) Pham Hong Son, the ministry had submitted a plan to merge the Ha Noi and HCM stock exchanges for the Government to review.

On January 7, the Prime Minister approved a plan to establish the Viet Nam Stock Exchange based on the restructuring of the two existing bourses to ensure efficiency and transparency, Son said.

The MoF was also drafting regulations to establish the exchange, Son said.

In the first three months of this year, the ministry had focused on developing new derivatives such as covered warranted and future contracts. According to Son, initial preparations had been completed and the new products could be in place in the second quarter of this year

In the second quarter, the MoF would focus on finalising the amended Law on Securities and documents to amend the Law on Insurance Business 2020, while finalising the draft decree on micro insurance under the guidance of the Government and the National Assembly Standing Committee.

The SSC had sanctioned enterprises that were slow to list on the market or slow to register for trading transactions, with the highest penalty of VND350 million (US$15,000).

Regarding quality of audit reports, Son said there had been an improvement.

The SSC was implementing measures to co-ordinate with auditors to raise the standards of the current audit reports. — VNS