Vietnam Equity Strategy: No change in status from MSCI

Research evidence excerpt

Vietnam Equity Strategy: No change in status from MSCI

Global Research

19 June 2026ab

First Read

Equity StrategyVietnam Equity Strategy

No change in status from MSCI Vietnam

Permada Darmono

Analyst

permada.darmono@ubs.com

Some progress noted

+65-6495 3137

MSCI published its global market accessibility review for 2026. For Vietnam, there is no

William Dengchange in status and it remains a frontier market. MSCI made some comments on

Economist

Vietnam's foreign ownership limit (FOL), foreign room level, equal rights to foreign

william-w.deng@ubs.com

investors, foreign exchange market liberalization, investor registration & account set up, +852-2971 6765

market regulations, information flow, clearing and settlement, and transferability. Main

Trang Nguyenkey takeaways for us are: 1) MSCI said FOL is still an issue in conditional and sensitive

sectors although there has been progress with recent regulations prohibiting companies trang-za.nguyen@ubs.com

from self-imposing FOL below the legal maximum; 2) Some company related +65-6495 2495

information is not always readily available in English and 'rights of foreign investors

limited as a result of the stringent FOL'; 3) No offshore currency market and constraints

on the onshore currency market; 4) Not all regulations can be found in English; 5)

Roadmap requiring public companies to disclose information in English is in phases

starting Jan 1, 2025 and ending Jan 1, 2028, suggesting that any change in status for

Vietnam in MSCI may still be sometime away; 6) Certain companies with low free float

have been flagged to create investability, transparency and price discovery concerns; and

7) No overdraft facilities for clearing and settlement and while there is a short-term non-