Ministry to ease rules on big foreign fund managers

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Foreigners with at least 300 million USD to invest would be allowed to establish wholly foreign-owned fund management companies in Viet Nam , under a regulation drafted by the Ministry of Finance and recently submitted to the Government for approval.

Foreign fund management firms seeking to set up a branch domestically would be required to have a capital of 500 million USD or more, according to the draft.

Such newly-opened companies or branches would only be authorized to provide asset management services for foreign traders on the domestic stock market.

“The draft will become a basis for the finance ministry and other market regulators to manage the business of foreign fund management companies,” said Hoang Phong, a partner with Thanh Ninh law firm.

The draft regulation, if approved, would help attract more overseas capital to the local stock exchange, he said.

The draft would also allow wholly foreign-invested fund management companies to merge with or acquire local companies, although branches of overseas firms would require authorization to do so from their parent firms.

Partially foreign-invested fund management fund would also be allowed to reorganize into a wholly foreign-invested domestic companies, the draft provides. (VNA)