HANOI (Reuters) -Vietnam’s Hochiminh Stock Exchange said on Thursday it will next month launch a new trading system, a move that could boost the country’s chances of being reclassified as an emerging market.
The May 5 introduction of the KRX system from Korea Exchange is expected to speed up settlement of transactions, as part of the Southeast Asian country’s reforms to upgrade its stock market.
Both the MSCI and FTSE indices currently classify Vietnam as a frontier market, preventing many funds, family offices and others from investing in companies listed there.
FTSE will hold its next regular review in September. Vietnam has been on FTSE watchlist for possible upgrade since 2018.
The launch had earlier been delayed due to regulatory roadblocks and a lack of readiness to connect to the new system to provide trading services to investors from securities firms.
KRX will handle settlement of transactions within a day, speeding up operations and facilitating trading, especially short selling, which was hampered by the current slower system.
(Reporting by Khanh Vu and Francesco Guarascio; Editing by Martin Petty)
