Vietnam to launch G-bond lending

Illustrative image (Source: laodong.com.vn)

The circular was issued by the finance ministry early this month to amend and supplement some articles of an older circular regulating the trading of G-bonds, Government-backed bonds and local-authority bonds.

G-bond borrowing must be negotiated by relevant sides, and the transfer must be conducted on the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) and/or the Vietnam Securities Depository (VSD).

Only market members eligible to participate in G-bond auctions on HNX regulations can borrow G-bond for sale.

The loan term must not exceed 180 days and the maturity date of the G-bond. The loan must be paid back in the type of G-bond notes that were borrowed before.

If the payer does not have a sufficient amount of G-bond notes, the payment must include an addition of other equivalent convertible G-bond notes, which are traded on the HNX. The transfer of equivalent convertible G-bond notes must be agreed on by all sides in the deal.

Relevant parties negotiate with each other and are accountable for issues regarding the volume of G-bond notes, guaranteed assets and loan interest rates.

The lending of G-bond notes must be legal in accordance with current regulations. The finance ministry also asked the HNX and VSD to issue detailed instructions for G-bond lending.

Market members on the Hanoi Stock Exchange will be divided into two types: ordinary trader and special trader.

Ordinary traders are securities companies that are allowed as market members by the HNX. They can perform brokerage and proprietary trading activities at the stock exchange.

Special traders are commercial banks and commercial bank branches that are allowed to serve as member markets by the HNX. They can only perform proprietary trading activities at the stock exchange.

The State Treasury of Vietnam, in particular, is not required to follow the administrative rules as a market member in the new circular.

The state treasury can perform “buy” orders in G-bond buy-sell back transactions on the bond trading market at the HNX. The due term for each trading transaction is less than three months.

According to the HNX, non-bank investors have participated more in the bond market. 40 percent of market members in the primary bond market are non-bank financial institutions, holding 20 percent of the outstanding bond notes, while the number of banks participating in the bond market has fallen to 60 percent from 80 percent. The rise of non-bank investors has helped increase the capital raised from market members.

The state treasury is targeting bond sales of 250 trillion VND (11.1 billion USD) this year, lower than last year’s level due to unpredictable changes on the global financial market.

G-bonds will be divided into different categories, with maturity of up to 30 years. Of the total bond volume issued this year, 20 percent will be one to three-year bonds, 60 percent will be five to 10-year bonds, and the rest will be bonds with a maturity of more than 15 years.