The prospect of an upgrade to Secondary emerging market by FTSE is now closer to reality after the Ministry of Finance announced Circular 68/2024/TT-BTC, allowing foreign investors to purchase securities without 100% prefunding their trading accounts;

Vietnam has passed 7/9 criteria for upgrading from frontier market to secondary emerging market according to FTSE standards;

We assess that the earliest time for the Vietnamese stock market to be considered for an upgrade will be in March 2025 – after evaluations of the final criterion regarding the costs associated with failed trades;

Upgrade to FTSE Secondary Emerging market – Opportunity for large cap stocks.