Jailed rugby league players

The Hanoitimes – Investments in forex trading platforms, seen as illegal, would not be protected by law, said a senior official of the central bank.

Credit institutions with permission from the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) are the only ones allowed to provide foreign exchange (FX) trading and derivatives services on the domestic and international markets.

Vice Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Dao Minh Tu at the press briefing. Photo: Nhat Bac.

I nvestors should be cautious in participating in illegal forex trading platforms, said SBV’s Vice Governor Dao Minh Tu at a monthly government’s press briefing on December 2, referring to the case of growing numbers of such platforms are calling for investment with promises of soaring profit.

“So far, local authorities have not issued licence for any forex trading floor. Therefore, all transactions on these floors are illegal,” stressed Mr. Tu.

“Individuals investing in these platforms, seen as violating laws, would not be protected by law,” he noted.

Mr. Tu said during the Covid-19 crisis, legal businesses anywhere around the world could hardly guarantee profit of up to a couple of dozen percent, let alone promises for profit of hundreds of percent per year, which is a sign of fraud.

Vice Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai noted forex trading platforms in Vietnam are form of illegal multi-level marketing activities that pose high risks in terms of assets losses for investors.

“Those participating in these activities could be subject to a penalty of up to VND5 billion (US$217,500) or five-year jail term,” Mr. Hai stressed.

Some investors admitted greedy is a major reason for them to participate in forex trading activities. However, they argued a lack of legal framework regulating such activities has directly led to a growing number of such platforms operating publicly and attracting ill-informed investors.

The Hanoitimes – The multi-level market forex activities are illegal in Vietnam.

The Vietnam Competition and Consumer Protection Authority (VCCA) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade warns that some financial investment platforms imply potential risks for local investors and they could be subject to a penalty of up to VND5 billion (US$216,000) or five-year jail term.

The warning of the VCCA about illegal activities of forex trading.

According to the government decree, organizations and individuals recruiting participants to invest through the financial investment platforms can be criminally handled.

The VCCA recently gathered a lot of advertising information, which called for financial investment through financial investment platforms, especially the form of foreign exchange (Forex) or binary options (BO).

Earlier, a representative from the State Bank of Vietnam told local media that anyone trading foreign currencies is involved in illegal activities. The Vietnamese authority has not issued permits to any forex trading platforms.

According to the department, all transactions on the platforms are via the internet while money of local investors is real. Commissions and incomes earned from the websites are virtual currencies or sent through e-wallets, which are not recognized by the Vietnamese regulatory authorities as legal payment. In case there are risks related to the system, the investor’s investments will not be guaranteed.

Besides, investors are also exposed to other risks when participating in the form of financial investment platforms such as disclosing personal information, or the disappearance of the system when the sums collected from the participants are enough to close.

In terms of legal risk, many financial investment platforms showed signs of attracting participants by paying bonuses and commissions from recruiting members participate in investment at levels, branches. As a result, there are signs of illegal trading such as Forex Liber, AFGold, Bitomo.

Coach Park Hang Seo has set a goal for the Vietnam national football squad: to win at least six points in the remaining three matches of Group G, the second qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup in Asia.

The Hanoitimes – The head of Vietnam’s stock market watchdog urged players to trust the internal strengths of the economy and the resilience of Vietnam’s stock market.

The State Securities Commission of Vietnam (SSC), the country’s stock market watchdog, is considering a number of solutions to help investors and securities firms overcome negative impacts of the Covid-19 epidemic and global turmoil, according to the SSC’s Chairman Tran Van Dung.

Chairman of the SSC Tran Van Dung.

Among them are lowering fees for some brokerage services and easing regulations on margin trading, Dung told Vietnam Financial Times.

At the close on March 9, the benchmark Vn-Index plunged 6.28% to 835.49, the biggest tumble since May 2014 when the standoff between Vietnam and China occurred after China moved an oil rig into Vietnam’s waters.

Dung, however, noted the liquidity of the Hochiminh and Hanoi stock exchanges remained abudant with nearly VND6.5 trillion (US$278.69 million) traded, indicating investors were buying in battered stocks.

Besides, foreign investors remained net sellers but at a moderate amount of VND230 billion (US$9.85 million) on March 9, Dung added.

Dung said the freefall of the stock market was a common situation globally, especially as “all bad news came at one time” that directly impact investor sentiment, including the sharpest decline of oil price since 1991, prompting Goldman Sachs to predict Brent oil could drop to US$20 per barrel this year.

On early March 9, the Japanese government issued lower-than-expected economic data for 2019, heightening fears the global economy may come to a recession under the growing impacts of the Covid-19 epidemic.

The Federal Reserves (FED) on March 3 cut interest rates by 0.5% in an emergency move, prompting 65% of traders to expect the FED to continue lowering interest rates by 0.75% in the upcoming meeting on March 17. If it happens, the cut in the federal funds rate would take the borrowing cost in the short-term markets down to a range of 0.25% – 0.5% and raise concern over the US and global economies going to slow down.

For the Vietnamese stock market, new cases of Covid-19 infections were the main reason for shares going downhill, Dung said. However, Vietnam’s successful containment of the epidemic is just a matter of time, given strong determination of the government and the public.

Moreover, in the mid- and long-term, credit and fiscal support packages from the government will no doubt help enterprises recover, Dung added.

Dung urged enterprises, intermediary financial institutions and investors to trust the internal strengths of the economy and the resilience of Vietnam’s stock market.

Such confidence would help the market to rebound sooner and avoid unnecessary sell-offs, Dung stated.

In the coming time, the SSC would continue to closely monitor the market and only intervene out of necessity, Dung added, stating the authority would strictly punish cases of market manipulation or providing false information for unfair gains.