SSC (State Securities Commission of Vietnam)

Definition

Vietnam's securities regulator, overseeing the country's stock exchanges and licensed market participants. Private share transfers between shareholders are governed by corporate and contract law rather than SSC rules.

Why it matters for a secondary

With no SSC-regulated venue for private-share secondaries, a Vietnamese deal like MoMo's stake sale is negotiated bilaterally between the company's shareholders and the buyer consortium.

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How it works in practice

The SSC regulates Vietnam's securities market, public offerings and intermediaries, and sits alongside the corporate and investment approvals that apply to foreign ownership. A transfer of shares in a Vietnamese company can therefore involve three separate workstreams at once: company law, securities rules where relevant, and the foreign-investment regime.

A concrete illustration

An offshore fund agrees to buy a stake from an early investor in a Vietnamese consumer company. Beyond the share purchase agreement, the transaction may require the company to update its investment registration, confirm the foreign ownership position, and complete banking steps for the capital to move — each with its own timetable.

What people most often get wrong

Documentation and approval timelines, not price, are what most often derail Vietnamese secondaries. Build the transaction timetable around the approval path from the start, and confirm the company will actively cooperate: without it, a signed agreement can sit unexecuted for months.