CRV Index Goes with Enterprises ahead of Economic Integration

CRV Index Goes with Enterprises ahead of Economic Integration

The Credit Ratings Vietnamnet Centre (CRVC) on June 4 hosted a scientific seminar on credit rating in the process of international integration. The event drew the participation of senior economists, scientists, and news and media agencies in Hanoi.

At the meeting, scientists agreed that the formation of a credit organisation is inevitable in an environment of insufficient and overlapping information. This is a project of national scale, not only within the service operations of an enterprise.

The opportune foundation of CRVC will honour prestigious enterprises, provide information about enterprises and entrepreneurs and help them to evaluate real situations and  introduce “soundly preventive” measures.

As the first professional credit ratings centre in Vietnam, Vietnamnet Ratings will specialise in gathering information, credit rating, ranking, and certification granting. In particular, CRVC will cooperate annually with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and other associations to honour enterprises with high credit ratings indexes. 

Mr. Phan The Hai, director of CRVC, said criteria for credit ratings are based on over 100 financial and non-financial norms and a VASC-built software to secure motto of independence, objectivity and reality. The ratings will consult processes made by world-leading organisations such as Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s, and will be in line with Vietnamese practices.

The ratings will be ratified by an assessing council with senior scientists, financial experts, entrepreneurs and leaders of organisations. 

The formation of CRVC has drawn concerns of numerous prestigious scientists and sectoral leaders. Following are excerpts from the scientific seminar.

“Enterprise Database is a worthless assett of CRVC”, Dr. Le Dang Doanh, senior economist and advisor to the Ministry of Planning and Investment

“Vietnam is typically in the process of renewal where information insufficiency and overlapping are coexisting. A certain financial criteria can result in different figures and therefore the finding of the “real number” is crucial. To do this, apart from professional requirements, CRVC also needs to place emphasis on the resilience of the market and the ability of joint-venturing and cooperating and the competitiveness of enterprises.” 

Since 1997-1998, I have hoped Vietnam would introduce a credit rating organisation, Dr Nguyen Cong Nghiep, deputy director of the Ministry of Finance

As a senior and experienced researcher in credit ratings, he believes that credit rating will have an effect on the whole nation and bring in benefits for the whole of society. An enterprise is a cell of an economy. A strong economy will be constituted from strong cells. Therefore, the formation of the CRVC will provide a “healthy service” for enterprises. Like a doctor, credit rating needs to be completely meticulous.

A market economy needs transparent and objective information, Dr Nguyen Van Nam - the Prime Minister’s Research Committee

During the self-subsidy period, the only way to access information was to rely on authorities or security systems. In the market economy, transparent and objective information is crucial to attract investment capital, to develop the capital market and stock exchange. However, Vietnamese enterprises aren’t yet familiar with providing information, therefore, it is very hard to collect information from enterprises, especially exact figures. Consequently, in the initial stage, the centre needs to focus on ratings based on several fixed criteria and will launch step-by-step development strategies at a later stage.

Legal levels among enterprises are like chalk and cheese, resulting in unreliable information, Dr Cao Ba Khoat - Enterprise Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment

The rating is unreliable because there are large differentials among enterprises of different sectors. Therefore, when the rating is made, this factor should be counted. In addition, in the initial stage, the centre should cooperate with organisations holding enterprise databases such as the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the General Statistics Office, the General Department of Customs, and the General Department of Taxation.

• Ngoc Dung