The State Securities Commission has ordered securities
companies to report any new operations with gold trading centres,
acknowledging the recent rush of brokerages to the gold market as a
means to survive the extended stock market downturn.


"In the face of the economic crunch, and the slumping
stock market, most securities companies have seen losses in their core
line business, but they have seen profitable opportunities in gold
transactions," said Le Huy Hung, head of Artex Securities Co’s service
department.


With no specific rules yet developed for the emerging
field of brokering gold trades, the commission order is a stop-gap
measure as relevant authorities draft appropriate regulations.


Under the commission document issued this week,
securities firms that have not yet entered this field are barred from
doing so until regulations have been issued.


Viet Nam International Securities Co general director
Pham Linh said it was natural for securities firms to become gold
brokers since gold had become a hot investment in recent months. Linh’s
firm co-ordinated with Wall Street Gold Joint Stock Co to open a gold
agent in Ha Noi, and was preparing to set up another in HCM City.


Transaction fees were VND2,000 per tael of gold, with commissions set at various ratios.


Empower Securities Co has also co-operated with the
Viet Nam Gold Business and Investment Joint Stock Co to establish a
gold agent which, after only one month in operation, already had about
100 accounts set up by gold investors, according to Le Nguyen Huy Tam,
chief of marketing and sales at Empower.


Tam also noted that the services and management of a gold agent were similar to those of a securities brokerage.


Indochina, Viet Quoc, Dong Duong and Phuong Dong
securities companies, as well as Mekong Housing Bank and Sai Gon
Jewellery Co, were all offering services, and some were holding
seminars to help gold investors sharpen their knowledge.


Nguyen Thanh Ky, chairman of the Viet Nam Securities
Business Association, said concerned offices should legalise the
activities to avoid disputes or corruption.


And, while some experts warned that this venture in
gold trading was diluting securities firms’ technological and human
resources, Artex Securities Co predicted that gold trading floors could
continue joining with securities enterprises to provide shared
brokerage services even once the stock market has recovered.