Decree 65/2022/ND-CP (“Decree 65”) amends Article 8 of Decree 153/2020/ND-CP (“Decree 153”) on accreditation of individual professional securities investors when buying private bonds. Specifically:
“d) The determination of individual professional securities investors eligible for buying bonds as prescribed in Article 11.1(d) of the Law on Securities must ensure that the list of listed and registered securities held by the investor reaches a value of at least 02 billion VND determined by the daily average market value according to securities portfolio for a period of at least 180 days preceding the date of determination of professional securities investor status, excluding the borrowing value of escrow transactions and the securities value of resale transactions. The identification of a professional securities investor at this point is valid within 03 months from the date of confirmation”.
Along with that, the increase in face value of corporate bonds from VND 100,000 to VND 100 million (under Article 1.4 of Decree 65 amending Article 6.4(a) of Decree 153) will also limit the number of individual investors in the coming time.
Therefore, this regulation will minimize retail investors from buying private bonds. However, investors can still participate in this market by buying corporate bonds that have been listed on exchanges and issued to the public through Vietnamese stock exchanges as prescribed in Decree 155/2020/ND-CP ("Decree 155") without being bound by Decree 65.
Listed corporate bonds are bonds that are fully registered and deposited at the Vietnam Securities Depository, and are widely traded on Vietnamese stock exchanges. The entire trading process must be based on the regulations of the Exchange and is specified in Article 118 of Decree 155. Investors can easily buy listed bonds by placing bond orders (online or at the counter/through the switchboard) at securities companies.
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