FTSE Russell confirms Vietnam's stock market upgrade from frontier to secondary emerging market, effective September 21, 2026

FTSE Russell confirms Vietnam's stock market upgrade from frontier market to secondary emerging market, effective September 21, 2026. The decision is described in FTSE Russell's mid-year market classification report on stock markets released on April 8. The FTSE Russell Indices Management Board (IGB) said it is satisfied with progress implementing the foreign broker model (global broker), a key requirement to support index replication. Consequently, Vietnam remains on track for upgrading from frontier to secondary emerging market, with the change taking effect on September 21. According to FTSE Russell, adding Vietnam to global equity indices will occur in multiple tranches, starting this September and completing next year, with initial weights of 10%, then 20%, 35%, and finally 35%. The upgrade is expected to attract larger international capital. Some brokerages estimate foreign capital into Vietnam at about 6-8 billion USD upon the upgrade, with HSBC Global Research suggesting up to 10.4 billion USD in the most optimistic scenario, including both active and passive funds. Analysts from HSC expect about 300-500 million USD from passive funds in the September rebalancing, while SSI projects passive inflows of roughly 1.67 billion USD over 3-5 quarters, similar to Saudi Arabia's 2019 upgrade. An investor watches the stock market at a firm in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Thanh Tung. Vietnam is estimated to account for 0.037% of the FTSE Global All Cap, 0.024% of FTSE All-World, 0.35% of FTSE Emerging All Cap, and 0.227% of the FTSE Emerging Index; these weights are higher than in the November 2025 upgrade update. Thirty-two stocks meet FTSE Global All Index eligibility, including five large caps: HPG, VCB, BID, VIC, and VHM. Since the last annual review, FTSE Russell notes Vietnam has continued developing the “global broker” model. Specifically, the Ministry of Finance issued Circular 08 allowing foreign investors to place orders through foreign securities firms to route orders to domestic brokerages, instead of opening direct accounts in Vietnam. The circular also signals improvements in removing pre-funding requirements. FTSE Russell is one of the world’s leading index providers, alongside MSCI and S&P Dow Jones Indices, with products used globally by fund managers, financial institutions, banks, and other investors. FTSE Russell classifies markets into four groups: developed, advanced emerging, secondary emerging, and frontier. Many Asian countries, such as China, India, Indonesia, Philippines, and Qatar, are in the secondary emerging group like Vietnam. Ongoing reforms include removing pre-funding, tightening disclosure standards, expanding foreign ownership, and applying central counterparty (CCP) clearing, all expected to help the market approach MSCI upgrade criteria in the near future.