Top ten securities firms hold 10.6 billion USD in margin loans

The ten largest securities companies held a combined 274.7 trillion VND (10.6 billion USD) in margin loans at the end of September, accounting for more than 62% of the estimated 440 trillion VND market-wide balance, as lending to stock investors remained a major business segment for the industry.

Based on third-quarter 2026 financial statements and company disclosures, the figure represents principal outstanding from margin lending and excludes advances against proceeds from securities sales.

Although securities firms do not take deposits like commercial banks, their expanding margin loan portfolios have reached tens of trillions of dong, comparable to or exceeding the customer lending balances of some smaller banks.

Techcom Securities (TCBS) led the market, with margin loans of nearly 54.4 trillion VND at the end of the third quarter, up around 26% from the beginning of the year.

The scale of TCBS's lending portfolio was nearly 2.5 times Saigonbank's customer loans of 22 trillion VND at June 30, according to the bank's first-half 2026 financial statements. TCBS's margin balance also exceeded that of PGBank, whose customer loans stood at over 48.3 trillion VND at the end of June, by 6 trillion VND.

VPBank Securities (VPBankS) ranked second, with margin loans of around 39.7 trillion VND at September 30, an increase of nearly 5.8 trillion VND from the start of the year. Its balance was equivalent to about 1.8 times Saigonbank's customer lending portfolio at the end of June.

VPBankS overtook SSI Securities Corporation to claim second place. SSI ranked third, with margin loans of 38.1 trillion VND, around 1.6 trillion VND below VPBankS. Unlike the two leading firms, SSI recorded a slight contraction, with its margin balance falling by about 494 billion VND compared with the end of 2025.

Ho Chi Minh City Securities Corporation (HSC) and VPS Securities followed, with margin loan balances of nearly 29.2 trillion VND and 25.4 trillion VND, respectively.

All five leading firms had margin portfolios exceeding 25 trillion VND, while the top three each held more than 38 trillion VND.

Margin lending has also become an important source of income rather than merely a complement to securities brokerage.

At TCBS, net income from margin lending and advances against securities sale proceeds reached more than 1.5 trillion VND in the third quarter, up 55% year-on-year and accounting for around 44% of the company's total net operating income.

Asia Commercial Bank Securities Company (ACBS) ranked sixth, with principal margin loans of about 22.6 trillion VND, up approximately 5.4 trillion VND, or more than 31%, from the beginning of the year.

Mirae Asset Vietnam Securities ranked seventh, with around 17.3 trillion VND, followed closely by Vietcap Securities at approximately 17.2 trillion VND.

MB Securities (MBS) ranked ninth, with margin loans of over 16.5 trillion VND, while Vietcombank Securities (VCBS) completed the top ten with approximately 14.4 trillion VND. VCBS recorded particularly rapid expansion, with its margin balance rising around 61% from the beginning of the year.

The large lending balances persisted through a volatile third quarter for Vietnam's stock market. The VN-Index briefly exceeded 1,870 points in June before entering a sharp correction in July, when it fell to around 1,660 points. The benchmark subsequently recovered in August and approached 1,850 points in early September.

However, the recovery proved short-lived. Despite Vietnam's official upgrade by FTSE Russell to secondary emerging-market status from September 21, selling pressure intensified in the final sessions of the month, pushing the VN-Index below key support levels.

The index closed September 30 at 1,768.62 points, down 4.91% from the end of the second quarter. According to Saigon-Hanoi Securities (SHS), trading value on the Hochiminh Stock Exchange (HoSE) fell 22.3% quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter.

In September only, the VN-Index declined around 3.5%, while market liquidity fell for a fourth consecutive month./.

VNA