Circular No. 83/2024/TT-BTC dated November 26, 2024 on providing guidance on mechanisms and policies for prices of securities services set by the State and applied to Vietnam Exchange and its subsidiaries, and Vietnam Securities Depository And Clearing Corporation

CIRCULAR

PROVIDING GUIDANCE ON MECHANISMS AND POLICIES FOR PRICES OF SECURITIES SERVICES SET BY THE STATE AND APPLIED TO VIETNAM EXCHANGE AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES, AND VIETNAM SECURITIES DEPOSITORY AND CLEARING CORPORATION

Pursuant to the Prices Law dated June 19, 2023;

Pursuant to the Law on Securities dated November 26, 2019;

Pursuant to the Law on Public Debt Management dated November 23, 2017;

Pursuant to the Law on Environmental Protection dated November 17, 2020;

Pursuant to the Law on management and use of state capital invested in manufacturing and business operations of enterprises dated November 26, 2014;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 85/2024/ND-CP dated July 10, 2024 elaborating and providing guidelines for implementation of the Prices Law;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 155/2020/ND-CP dated December 31, 2020 on elaboration of some Articles of the Law on Securities;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 158/2020/ND-CP dated December 31, 2020 on derivatives and derivative market;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 91/2018/ND-CP dated June 26, 2018 on issuance and management of Government guarantee;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 93/2018/ND-CP dated June 30, 2018 prescribing provincial-government debt management;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 95/2018/ND-CP dated June 30, 2018 prescribing issuance, registration, depositing, listing and trading of government debt instruments on securities market;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 91/2015/ND-CP dated October 13, 2015 on state capital investment in enterprises, use and management of capital and assets in enterprises; the Government’s Decree No. 126/2017/ND-CP dated November 16, 2017 on conversion of state-owned enterprises and single-member limited liability companies wholly owned by state-owned enterprises into joint-stock companies; the Government’s Decree No. 32/2018/ND-CP dated March 08, 2018 providing amendments to Decree No. 91/2015/ND-CP dated October 13, 2015; the Government’s Decree No. 140/2020/ND-CP dated November 30, 2020, providing amendments to the Decree No. 126/2017/ND-CP dated November 16, 2017, the Decree No. 91/2015/ND-CP dated October 13, 2015 and Decree No. 32/2018/ND-CP dated March 08, 2018;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 153/2020/ND-CP dated December 31, 2020 prescribing private placement and trading of privately placed corporate bonds in domestic market and offering of corporate bonds in international market;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 65/2022/ND-CP dated September 16, 2022 providing amendments to Government’s Decree No. 153/2020/ND-CP dated December 31, 2020 prescribing private placement and trading of privately placed corporate bonds in domestic market and offering of corporate bonds in international market;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 08/2023/ND-CP dated March 05, 2023 providing amendments to and suspension of some articles of Decrees prescribing private placement and trading of privately placed corporate bonds in domestic market and offering of corporate bonds in international market;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 14/2023/ND-CP dated April 20, 2023 defining functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam;

At the request of the Director of Department of Price Management and the Chairman of State Securities Commission of Vietnam (SSC);

The Minister of Finance of Vietnam promulgates a Circular providing guidance on mechanisms and policies for prices of securities services set by the State and applied to Vietnam Exchange and its subsidiaries, and Vietnam Securities Depository And Clearing Corporation.

Article 1. Scope

1. This Circular provides guidance on mechanisms and policies for prices of securities services set by the State and applied to Vietnam Exchange and its subsidiaries (hereinafter referred to as “Stock Exchanges or SEs”), and Vietnam Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation (hereinafter referred to as “VSDC”) as prescribed by laws.

2. Based on their actual provision of services, SEs and VSDC shall themselves set the prices of their services which are not subject to the State valuation in conformity with regulations of the Prices Law, the Law on Securities and relevant laws, and shall assume the full responsibility for their set prices.

Article 2. Regulated entities

1. Providers of securities services as prescribed in this Circular, including: Vietnam Exchange and its subsidiaries, and Vietnam Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation.

2. Users of securities services rendered by the service providers mentioned in Clause 1 of this Article, including: members of SEs; VSDC’s members; applicants for listing; listed organizations; securities investment fund management companies; issuers; public companies; direct account holders at VSDC; organizations or individuals transferring securities ownership without using the SE’s trading system; State Treasuries; issuers of government-backed bonds as prescribed in the Law on public debt management; provincial People's Committees that issue municipal bonds.

3. Other relevant organizations and individuals.

Article 3. Prices of securities services rendered by SEs and VSDC

1. The Ministry of Finance of Vietnam shall take charge of setting the prices of securities services which are subject to the State valuation as prescribed for being applied to SEs and VSDC.

2. VAT on securities services prescribed in this Circular shall be paid in accordance with provisions of the Law on Value-Added Tax.

3. SEs and VSDC must post and publish their service prices and comply with regulations of the Prices Law, the Law on Securities and relevant guidelines thereon.

4. SEs and VSDC shall assume responsibility to regularly review securities services which are subject to the State valuation and rendered by SEs and VSDC, and prices of securities services set by the State, and where necessary, request SSC to carry out appraisal of securities services which need to be valued or whose prices need to be adjusted, and submit a report thereon to the Ministry of Finance for consideration and decision as prescribed by the Prices Law and guidelines thereon.

5. When conducting market making transactions, the prices of trading services on underlying securities market and the prices of derivatives trading services payable by market makers may be reduced by up to 80% and 70% respectively after they have fulfilled their market-making obligations as prescribed by law and specific requirements imposed by competent authorities.

6. Prices of these services, including listing registration, listing management, trading, securities registration, partial securities deregistration or change in number of registered securities, and depositing, payable by issuers and buyers of green bonds as prescribed in the Law on Environmental Protection and its guidelines shall be reduced by 50%.

Issuers shall be required to submit documents proving that their issued bonds meet green bond requirements as prescribed by laws to SEs and VSDC when following procedures for registration of securities or listing registration.

7. The prices of securities services which are set by the State and applied to SEs and VSDC are elaborated in Appendix I and Appendix II enclosed herewith.

Article 4. Payment of securities service prices

1. If an organization applies for re-registration as a SE’s member, it shall pay the same prices of these services, including registration as derivatives trading member, membership management, management of derivatives trading members, periodical connection maintenance, and use of terminal devices, as a new member.

If an organization applies for re-registration as a depository member or clearing member of VSDC, it shall pay the same prices of these services, including depository member management, clearing member management, management of derivatives clearing members, registration as clearing member, and registration as derivatives clearing member, as a new member.

2. If membership, trading activities or online connection of a SE’s member is suspended according to the SE’s decision for a period lasting until the following year without terminating its membership, this member shall still pay prices of these services, including membership management, management of derivatives trading members, periodical connection maintenance, and use of terminal devices, of the following year.

In case VSDC suspends provision of depository, clearing and settlement services for its member, or a member of VSDC has its depository, clearing and settlement activities suspended by VSDC for a period lasting until the following year without terminating membership, this member shall still pay prices of these services, including depository member management, clearing member management and management of derivatives clearing members, of the following year.

3. If SE suspends trading membership or trading activities or online connection to serve termination of membership of its member within the same year, this member must not pay prices of these services, including membership management, management of derivatives trading members, periodical connection maintenance, and use of terminal devices, of the following years.

In case VSDC suspends its provision of depository, clearing and settlement services for its member, or a member of VSDC has its depository, clearing and settlement activities suspended by VSDC in order to follow procedures for termination of their membership within the same year, this member must not pay prices of these services, including depository member management, clearing member management and management of derivatives clearing members, of the following years.

4. In respect of securities transactions which have been confirmed by SE but then rejected by SE or for which settlement is rejected by VSDC as prescribed, trading service prices shall not be charged by SE.

5. Prices of securities services prescribed in this Circular shall be paid in VND. Prices of securities services shall be rounded to the nearest Dong following the rounding rule specified in clause 6 Article 4 of the Decree No. 174/2016/ND-CP dated December 30, 2016 elaborating some Articles of the Law on Accounting and its amending or superseding documents (if any).

With regard to government bonds in foreign currency, service prices shall be calculated adopting the average rate of the central rates of that foreign currency to VND announced by the State Bank of Vietnam (“SBV”) in the month in which the bond-related service is rendered.

Article 5. Time limits for collection, payment and refund of securities service prices

1. With regard to services of which prices are set by the Ministry of Finance and to be paid annually, service users shall make payments to SEs or VSDC by January 31 of the charging year.

2. With regard to services of which prices are set by the Ministry of Finance and to be paid monthly, service users shall make payments to SEs or VSDC by the 15^th of the following month.

3. An organization that applies for registration as a new member of SE or VSDC and applies for the first listing shall pay prices of these services, including registration as derivatives trading member, membership management, management of derivatives trading members, initial online connection, periodical connection maintenance, use of terminal devices, registration as clearing member, registration as derivatives clearing member, depository member management, clearing member management, management of derivatives clearing members, listing registration, and listing management, within 07 (seven) business days after SE issues a Decision to grant membership, Decision to approve connection for online trading, Decision on approval of listing, or Decision to approve connection for remote trading, or after VSDC issues a Certificate of depository membership, clearing membership or derivatives clearing membership.

4. SE or VSDC shall refund the collected prices of these services, including membership management, derivatives trading member management, periodical connection maintenance, use of terminal devices, depository member management, clearing member management and management of derivatives clearing members, to its member within 07 (seven) business days after SE issues a Decision to terminate membership or VSDC issues a Decision to revoke certificate of membership or to terminate membership.

5. SE shall require additional payment or refund overpaid amount of listing management service price to the listed organization or the fund management company within 07 (seven) business days after SE issues a Decision to approve changes in listing or notifies changes in quantity of listed securities, or from the effective date of delisting.

6. In case of reorganization of trading markets for shares between SEs as prescribed by law, the SE from which shares are transferred shall determine the amount of listing management service price collected in the year and transfer the remaining amount of service price counting from the month following the month in which the transfer of shares takes place to the end of December of the same year to the SE to which shares are transferred; the SE to which shares are transferred shall not charge on the initial application for listing of such transferred shares.

Article 6. Management and use of revenues from provision of securities services

1. After having fulfilled obligations to state budget as prescribed, SEs and VSDC shall manage and use the remaining amounts of revenues from their provision of securities services in accordance with regulations of law.

2. VSDC shall consider allocating its revenues from processing of securities ownership transfer outside the trading system of SEs (except transfer of ownership of privately placed corporate bonds which have been registered with VSDC but are not compulsorily traded on SE and transfer of ownership of securities obtained from ETF conversion or exercise of covered warrants) to SEs under terms and conditions of the signed service contracts, provided that the amount allocated to SE shall not exceed 50% of total revenue earned from processing of ownership transfer of securities listed or registered for trading on SE.

3. SEs and VSDC shall issue invoices when receiving payments of service prices in accordance with regulations of law.

Article 7. Implementation organization

1. SEs and VSDC shall review securities services which are subject to the State valuation and rendered by SEs and VSDC, formulate and submit service valuation plans to SSC for appraisal and submission to the Ministry of Finance for consideration and promulgation of valuation reports as prescribed by the Prices Law and guidelines thereon.

2. Difficulties that arise during the implementation of this Circular should be promptly reported to the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam for consideration.

Article 8. Implementation

This Circular comes into force from January 10, 2025 and supersedes the Circular No. 101/2021/TT-BTC dated November 17, 2021 of the Minister of Finance./.