Fines have been given to a number of companies that have yet to register with SSC.   Photo hipa—ahelp.com

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — There is growing concern that a number of enterprises listed as public companies that have yet to register with State Securities Commission (SSC) are also deliberately not disclosing information.

This week, Sai Gon-Song Lam Beer Joint Stock Company was fined VND40 million (US$1,900) by SSC for not registering as a public company, making the total number of companies penalised for violating the registration procedure this year to five, higher than the number of three in 2013.

The other four companies included Vinacomin – Cam Pha Coal Joint Stock Company, Viet Nam Power Development Joint Stock Company, Civil Construction Joint Stock Company No 484 and Real Estate Construction Company Limited No 6.

Since 2008, when the Law on Securities took effect, there were several companies fined for violating it each year.

The law on securities defines a public company as one of the three following types: (1) company that offers shares to the public; (2) company with shares listed on a stock exchange or securities trading centre; and (3) company that has at least 100 shareholders and a charter capital of VND10 billion ($474,000) or more.

At the same time, a company must register with SSC within 90 days of becoming a public company.

In a move to increase pressure that forced companies to comply with the law, the penalty for violation also increased from VND10 million to VND40 million last year, but to date there are a lot of unregistered businesses.

According to the Commission, there are 1,257 businesses having registered as public companies with SSC, of which 767 have yet to list shares on the stock exchange. However, this number is far behind when compared to the number of equitised State-owned enterprises (SOEs).

Since the beginning of this year, about 3,700 SOEs have been equitised, or sold stakes to the public, who are subject to the obligation of registration, according to data compiled by the Dau Tu Chung Khoan (Securities Investment) newspaper. — VNS