The system provides advanced trading, a rich source of information - as well as the statistics of market demand/supply and interest rates. — Illustrative image/ Photo baodautu

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The Ha Noi Stock Exchange has launched an electronic bond trading system (E-BTS). The new system, opened last Thursday, is expected to further facilitate access and trade by domestic and foreign investors in Viet Nam's bond market.

E-BTS is an internet-based technology that allows market players and investors to connect directly to the Ha Noi Stock Exchange through installed software. They can access, seek information, and trade bonds from anywhere.

The system is expected to lift the bond market to a higher level of development as it not only provides an advanced trading system but also offers a rich source of information, ranging from trading data on both primary and secondary markets to information on issuers and market members, as well as the statistics of market demand/supply and interest rates.

"With E-BTS, investors can now have a reliable reference to supply-demand and interest rate movements in markets, as well as gain access to information and services, which only registered members enjoyed previously," said a press release issued by the Ha Noi Stock Exchange.

In addition, investors can manage their transaction data and look up the system for history. This will assist them in better risk control and in managing portfolios more efficiently.

Apart from domestic traders, foreigners also can have direct access to the trading system and with rich information, they can make better assessment of the Government's bond market as well as proper investment decisions.

Transparency in information dissemination is very crucial for the development of the Government bond market. As the exclusive organiser assigned by the Government to organise, regulate, and operate the Government bond secondary trading market, the Ha Noi Stock Exchange has been constantly upgrading its bond bidding and trading systems.

Automated

In June 2012, the exchange introduced an automated bond system and based on that, bidding activities were deployed publicly, transparently, and accurately.

The secondary trading market for Government bonds has been in operation since 2009, and it was upgraded to a higher module in 2013, which integrated bidding activities, bills, and bond trading to create an official yield curve of the Vietnamese bond market.

In September 2014, the exchange and Bloomberg signed a memorandum of co-operation to connect the exchange's bond trading system with the international investor community.

According to Vietcom-bank Securities Co (VCBS), the total value of outstanding Government bonds in the market reached approximately VND505 trillion (US$23.2 billion), a four-fold increase compared with 2009.

The market has registered an average annual growth of 23 per cent in the last five years, which has been considered as the highest in emerging markets in East Asia and ASEAN+3.

This is also an important channel for the Government to raise capital, accounting for 21.25 per cent of the country's GDP.

Quach Thuy Linh, head of the VCBS's Capital and Bond Business Division, told the Dau tu chung khoan (Securities Investment) newspaper that in addition to modernising the trading system, authorities should diversify products, including derivative products such as Bond Future, Bond Forward, and Bond Index, to boost liquidity and make the bond market more attractive. — VNS