“We look forward to continued collaboration to ensure sustained progress ahead of the target reclassification date in September 2026", he said.

On October 8, FTSE Russell officially upgraded Vietnam from a frontier market to a secondary emerging market, effective from September 21, 2026, following an interim review in March 2026.

The review aims to determine whether sufficient progress has been made in enabling access to global brokers, which is essential to support index replication and meet the needs of the international investment community.

FTSE Russell’s Index Governance Board (IGB) recognises the progress made by the Vietnamese market authorities in evolving its market by removing the prefunding requirement for Foreign Institutional investors (FII) with the implementation of a non-refunding (NPF) model and establishing a formal process for handling failed trades.

FTSE Russell's IGB also acknowledges that Vietnam has met all the criteria of the Secondary Emerging market status under the FTSE Equity Country Classification Framework.  FTSE Russell will continue to monitor developments closely and welcomes feedback from index stakeholders to enable the reclassification to proceed as planned in September 2026.

Nguyen Van Thang, Vietnam's Minister of Finance said "Over the past two years, under the leadership of the Government, Prime Minister, and with the close guidance of the Ministry of Finance, the State Securities Commission has implemented a comprehensive reform program to align Vietnam’s securities market with highest international standards. The official recognition and upgrade of Vietnam’s securities market is clear evidence of the country’s sound development path and its growing capacity to integrate deeply into the global financial system.

“The Ministry of Finance remains committed to advancing deeper and broader reforms, maximising accessibility for both domestic and international investors, while accelerating the modernisation and digitalisation of its market infrastructure – with the objective of establishing an increasingly transparent and efficient market", Thang stressed.

Vietnam's stock market a bright spot in the Asian region: FTSE Russell

Global investors' attention is shifting to Vietnamese stocks, which have a higher long-term rate of return (ROR) than stocks in other emerging markets in the region and the world.