The Vietnamese financial sector is building an integrated system, especially in securities and insurance. Vietnam Business Forum interviewed Doan Thanh Tung, director of the Information Technology (IT) Centre, the State Securities Commission, about IT application in the securities service.
How has IT been applied in securities services? What will your evaluation be if you make a comparison between Vietnam and other countries in the region in the field?
We have applied many solutions in the securities service. These include the Ho Chi Minh City trading floor, which uses transaction software provided by Thailand, or the Hanoi securities trading floor and the Securities Depository Centre, which use solutions developed by FPT.
Admittedly, Vietnamese trading floors have witnessed a fragmented development. The Ho Chi Minh City trading floor uses a good solution but Thailand has not transferred us all features of the solution yet. It is necessary, for example, to combine transaction with deposit, but in the programme, deposit is unavailable. As Thailand does not provide source, so we cannot interfere into the section. As a result, we have to develop the depository programme independently.
For securities companies, due to a lack of IT application, except major securities companies of banks, most securities companies transfer their orders manually via fax, telephone or email. This has resulted in poor transparency of the market, helping devil to occur when orders are placed or processed.
IT application to securities service in Vietnam remains poorer than other countries in the region or in the world. I hope that after 2008 when a modern transaction system is used in Ho Chi Minh City, a breakthrough in IT for the securities service will be made. Vietnam, then, will be able to catch up with other countries in terms of IT solutions for the securities service.
Do you think Vietnamese IT enterprises can meet the demand of the securities service? Will the sector use solutions developed by local or foreign companies?
Due to the fact that the meeting the demand for management and transaction of the market is just short-term, most IT solutions used by the market are developed by local companies. The programmes have met adequately the requirement of the existing market. However, in the future, the solutions may hardly meet the market requirements. Also, as the Vietnamese market has signed a co-operation with Singapore on listing swap, the Vietnamese market will have to have modern transaction system, compatible with trading floors of other countries in the region. That is why we have paid special attention to solutions developed with co-operation between local and foreign companies.
To meet the demand of the Vietnamese securities service, it is certain that giants such as HP and IBM will offer their solutions. Will these solutions suit the Vietnamese market?
All activities of the securities service are international, observing the international standard. They are not of Vietnamese features. Therefore, IT solutions provided by foreign companies will not conflict with present and future activities of the Vietnamese stock market. With a comprehensive vision of the market, the application of solutions developed by foreign companies will become more convenient. We will select solutions suitable with activities of the market. Accordingly, some activities may be unavailable in the short term but the development modern software will be useful for the local securities service.
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