Rumors cause Vietnamese stock market to vaporize US$1.8 billion

In the morning August 09, the rumors that former BIDV president, Tran Bac Ha was arrested make BID stocks sold out at the floor price. The selling force then spread to the whole stock market, dragging down the VN - Index.

In the afternoon session, selling pressure continued to increase sharply, causing BID to remain at floor price with 9.7 million of units sold and no units purchased.

Besides BID, the selling force also took place on hundreds of other stock codes, making the VN-Index sharply decrease by 17.91 points (-2.2 per cent) to 773.66 points, the strongest decline since August 24, 2015. 

The HNX-Index decreased by 1.22 points (-1.19 per cent) to 101.07 points. With a capitalization of US$93 billion (over 90 per cent on Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE)), Vietnam's stock market has lost about US$1.8 billion.

However, on August 09, in response to local presses, the representative of the General Police Department (under the Ministry of Public Security) denied the rumors that Tran Bac Ha, BIDV's former president was arrested. Meanwhile, in the morning August 09, the former BIDV president said that the rumor was fake.

The "Financial Security and Business Competition" forum has been recently held by the Institute for Brand and Competitiveness Strategy (IBCS) in collaboration with Financial - Monetary - Investment Security Department (A84 - Ministry of Public Security). At the forum, the representative from A84 said that some people have taken advantage of the incidents where senior officials of joint-stock commercial banks were arrested for their violations in business operations and lending, to make up stories and lower the reputation of the rivals.

A84 also mentioned some outstanding cases related to the rumors that presidents from large banks such as ACB, Techcombank and Eximbank were arrested. The rumors that BIDV President was arrested in 2012 had caused serious impacts on the whole stock market. At that time, investors sold out 430 stock codes with declined prices, losing US$1.6 billion.

The status that fake rumors are still spreading in the stock market affects seriously the operation of the market and have negative impacts on listed companies.

According to Associate Prof, Ph.D. Nguyen Van Nam, Director of IBCS, most of the recent economic crises, which occurred, are financial crises; therefore, all sectors, agencies, enterprises and banks have to pay more attention to financial security, which is a core factor for their businesses.

Furthermore, Vietnamese Government should offer measures to financial security to enterprises to deal with financial risks.

Economist Dr. Tran Van Luc emphasized that Vietnam is one of the 20 countries with the fastest growing stock market in the world; however, Viet Nam is also at a high financial risk because the market develops too fast. Therefore, it is necessary to have control tools and strong sanctions to ensure the stable and safe operation of the stock market and financial market and financial security for enterprises.