Hanoi (VNA) – The Republic ofKorea (RoK) is currently the biggest foreign investor in Vietnam, and itsincreasing presence in Vietnam’s stock market is helping attract indirect Koreaninvestment in the country, said Chairman of the State Securities Commission ofVietnam (SSCV) Tran Van Dung.

He said in 2017, the stock market continued tobe a magnet for foreign indirect investment which totalled 32.9 billion USD, upby 90 percent from 2016.

Foreign indirect investment kept pouring intothe country in the first three months of 2018, rising by 14 percent from theend of 2017 to 37.6 billion USD in late March.

Korean indirect investment is rising sharply thoughit has yet to match potential, Dung said, noting that 4,846 RoK investors arepresent in Vietnam’s stock market.

There are five RoK-invested securitiescompanies in the market at present, namely Korea Investment & Securities,Mirae Asset Daewoo, Shinhan Investment, KB Securities and Woori.

These securities firms, together with banks andrepresentative offices of fund investment companies from the RoK, are playingan important role in boosting the inflow of Korean indirect investment intoVietnam, he said.

The Northeast Asian nation is also runningprojects in securities with Vietnam. The Hanoi Stock Exchange and the HCM StockExchange are working to update their technological system with the help of theKorea Stock Exchange. Meanwhile, the SSCV and the Korea Financial InvestmentAssociation are discussing a deal on financial technology, he added.

Though the RoK’s financial investment in Vietnamhas grown strongly over the past year it is not on par with potential. However,Dung said, opportunities in Vietnam are opening and Korean investors should notmiss them.

As the demand for development investment capitalwill be big soon, Vietnam’s stock market must develop more strongly to supplymedium- and long-term capital for the economy.

The official said among key solutions to attractforeign indirect investment, the SSCV will strengthen cooperation with theRoK’s managerial agencies to learn about Korean investors’ investment demand,and then both sides will remove obstacles to Korean investment in Vietnam’sstock market.-VNA