Standardizing capital raising through the corporate bond channel

A fully developed capital market not only gives businesses more options to raise funds at reasonable cost, but also helps ease pressure on the banking system.

For many years, the banking system has played a central role in supplying capital to the economy. However, with the target of double-digit economic growth over the next five years, the demand for medium- and long-term capital for infrastructure development, digital transformation, innovation and green transition will grow ever larger.

Faced with this outlook, the World Bank (WB) recommends that Vietnam shift from a growth model that relies heavily on accumulating factors of production and mobilizing capital through banks to a model based on productivity, the private sector and the development of deeper, broader capital markets.

The economy needs a more balanced financial structure, in which banks, the equity market, corporate bonds, investment funds and financial institutions all share the role of supplying capital.

In fact, the Prime Minister's Decision 1726 approving the strategy for developing the securities market to 2030 also sets a target of raising the size of the equity market to 120% of GDP by 2030.

At the same time, it aims to raise the size of the corporate bond market to at least 25% of GDP. All of this shows the determination of the regulatory authorities to develop the capital market into an important component of the economy in the coming period.

Speaking at the conference "Securities Issuance - A Driver of Economic Growth" held on the morning of 7 July, Ms. Vu Thi Chan Phuong, Chairwoman of the State Securities Commission (SSC), said that bank credit capital mainly meets short-term needs, while the capital market plays the role of providing medium- and long-term resources for businesses to expand production, invest in technology, enhance competitiveness and develop sustainably.

Within this, securities issuance not only helps businesses raise capital but also contributes to converting idle funds in society into resources for development investment, improving the efficiency of capital allocation in the economy.

Citing figures on capital mobilization, the SSC Chairwoman said the total value raised through the issuance of shares and privately placed corporate bonds reached more than VND763,000 billion in 2025.

In the first six months of 2026, the value of share issuance reached about VND114,000 billion (up more than 67% year on year), while the value of privately placed corporate bond issuance reached nearly VND149,000 billion.

"These figures reflect businesses' need to expand investment, as well as investors' increasingly consolidated confidence in the development prospects of Vietnam's securities market," Ms. Phuong noted.

Ms. Vu Thi Chan Phuong, Chairwoman of the State Securities Commission. Photo: Event

Indeed, to encourage businesses to raise capital through the bond channel, the Government has issued Decree 200/2026 with many new provisions aimed at further improving the legal framework for the corporate bond (CB) market, with the goal of both facilitating businesses' capital raising and enhancing management, supervision and ensuring that the market develops in a stable and transparent manner.

According to the SSC representative, Decree 200 adds many provisions to improve the legal framework for corporate bond issuance, including clarifying the purpose of issuance, and the management and use of funds; separating the conditions, dossiers and procedures for offering by each group of businesses; strengthening disclosure requirements; clearly delineating management and supervision responsibilities among agencies; and enhancing decentralization to local authorities.

From the perspective of a market participant, Mr. Phung Xuan Minh, Chairman of the Board of Saigon Ratings, also assessed that Decree 200 has clearly delineated the supervisory responsibilities of the entities participating in the market.

Within this, the SSC conducts supervision and inspection of public companies and intermediary organizations under its management; provincial People's Committees receive data, monitor, inspect and handle non-public companies headquartered in their localities. Meanwhile, the bondholder representative is responsible for supervising the issuer's fulfillment of its commitments, implementing periodic reporting and reporting when violations are detected.

But for this mechanism to be effective in implementation, Mr. Minh said it is necessary to form a closed-loop management process from data disclosure, information reconciliation, identification of warning signs, and inspection and examination, through to requiring remediation or handling violations and publicizing the results.

Specifically, data need to be standardized so that information is disclosed in a unified template, ensuring comparability across businesses and across reporting periods.

At the same time, data need to be interconnected among the Stock Exchange, the Vietnam Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation, tax authorities, business registration agencies, auditing firms, credit rating organizations and specialized regulatory agencies in order to enhance the ability to reconcile and verify information.

In addition, early warning indicators need to be built for signs such as a declining interest coverage ratio, prolonged negative operating cash flow, rapidly rising short-term debt, delayed information disclosure, changes of auditor, a decline in the value of collateral, or the emergence of cross-default obligations.

"Handling cases of violations also needs to be carried out promptly and consistently, because if a business discloses information late or inaccurately but is not detected, is not required to make adjustments, or does not face commensurate sanctions, the effectiveness of the disclosure mechanism will be hard to ensure," Mr. Minh analyzed.

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Source: TheLeader — theleader.vn. This article is republished for the purpose of sharing knowledge with the community of founders and investors in the HCM VIF ecosystem.