HANOI: Vietnam’s stock market is witnessing an extraordinary surge in margin lending, with total outstanding loans soaring to an all-time high of 280 trillion dong by the end of the first quarter of 2025.
This sharp increase, 35 trillion dong higher than the previous quarter, marks a historic milestone, with 33 trillion dong of that rise attributed solely to margin lending.
The unprecedented scale of this leverage highlights a renewed wave of investor optimism, but also raises concerns about market fragility in the face of external shocks.
At the centre of this lending boom are Vietnam’s largest brokerage firms, which are aggressively expanding their credit lines to retail and institutional investors.
Techcom Securities made headlines by becoming the first brokerage firm in the country to exceed 30 trillion dong in outstanding loans.
Other powerhouses, such as SSI Securities, VPS Securities and VPBankS, have also reported strong growth in their lending portfolios.
VPS alone saw an explosive expansion of 5.8 trillion dong in margin loans during the first quarter, accounting for nearly one-sixth of the market-wide increase.
This dramatic rise in margin lending reflects a broader structural trend in Vietnam’s capital markets.
Brokerages are increasingly capitalised and are leveraging their growing financial resources to meet heightened investor appetite for leveraged trading. By the end of March, the total equity of securities companies reached 275 trillion dong, up 10 trillion dong from the end of 2024.
This capital accumulation stems from both retained earnings and aggressive capital-raising strategies.
As of the end of the first quarter, the industry-wide margin-to-equity ratio stood near 100%, the highest in 12 quarters. — Viet Nam News/ANN
