Vietnam's First Credit Rating Firm Debuts

Vietnam’s First Credit Rating Firm Debuts

Vietnam's software developer and content provider, or VASC Software and Media Company, on June 4 launched the Credit Ratings Vietnamnet Center (CRVC), the first of its kind in the country.

CRVC will provide services on assessment of companies’ financial status and creditworthiness, information collection, and enterprise classification, said Phan The Hai, CRVC director.

The credit rating agency, which has a 15-economics professor board, will also be a consultant to advice companies to create prestige, build competitive trademarks, set up firms’ databases, as well as warn them of possible risks in their financing, Hai said.

CRVC will help the listed and to-be-listed firms to publicly attest to their health, he said. "A good rating may increase their shares' values and make it easier for them to get bank loans."

CRVC has inked a deal with the Central Bank's Credit Information Center to share the Center’s database, which commercial banks have found very useful information about their clients, Hai said.

The credit rating firm has applied the rating criteria of the world’s top agencies, including Standard & Poor's, Fitch Ratings and Moody's, to ensure that its evaluations are reliable and universal.

According to the Finance Ministry, all countries in Southeast Asia established their own credit rating agencies over 15 years ago, except for Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

Saigon Times Daily