SE Asia Stocks-Fall sharply on U.S.-China trade war worries

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  • Asian shares ex-Japan dip 2.4 pct, steepest drop in 1-1/2 mths
  • Vietnam falls from record, set for first losing session in ten
  • Philippines falls 2 pct, headed for 5th straight losing week
  • Singapore sheds as much as 2.1 pct

Southeast Asian stock markets fell sharply on Friday as U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a plan to impose tariffs on Chinese goods, bringing the two countries closer to a trade war and unnerving investors across the globe.

China urged the United States to “pull back from the brink”, saying Beijing was not afraid to engage in a trade war should the case arise.

The escalating tensions took a toll on broader Asian shares, which weakened as much as 2.4 percent, the steepest decline in a month-and-a-half.

“Hopefully… some agreement is reached between them in the next couple of weeks,” said Manny Cruz, an analyst with Asiasec Equities Inc in Makati City.

Singapore shares shed as much as 2.1 percent on broad-based losses, with United Overseas Bank Ltd dropping 2.8 percent.

Indonesian shares dipped as much as 2.7 percent, with financials and consumer staples weighing on the benchmark the most.

The index of the country’s 45 most liquid stocks was as much as 3.4 percent lower.

Indonesia should be hardest hit in the region in the event of a trade war due to the export-reliant nature of its economy, said Asiasec Equities analyst Cruz.

The bearish sentiment carried across the Strait of Malacca to Malaysia, where shares lost as much as 1 percent, as financials and telecom services weighed. Genting Bhd fell 1.8 percent.

Vietnam shares retreated from an all-time peak set on Thursday, shedding as much as 2.5 percent. The benchmark was on track to snap a nine-session winning streak. Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam lost as much as 4.9 percent.

Philippine shares fell below the 8,000 mark for a second time this week, with financials and industrials leading the losses. The index fell as much as 2.1 percent, wiping off most of the 2.7 percent gain in the previous session. Philippine index has lost about 3.3 percent this week, setting it on course for a fifth straight week of losses.

Heavyweight SM Investments Corp fell 3.7 percent while Ayala Land Inc was down 3.3 percent.

By Aaron Saldanha (Reuters)

Vietnam Golf Association’s Union Cup 2018 started

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VGA UNION CUP 2018 is the third golf tournament, organized by Vietnam Golf Association annually.

Throughout the year, golfers from the North and South regions of Vietnam can play in a multi-day tournament format, unlike anything else ever produced for amateur golfers, the key rules will be based on “Match Play” by Foursomes, Four-ball and Single Match.

This year, the tournament takes place at the prestigious Long Thanh’s Golf Club in Dong Nai  from March 21st to 24th. There are 18 golfers, with 8 Foursomes, 8 Four-ball and 12 Single Matches.

Matching plan on March 22th

Moring: Fourballs

1.Nguyễn Hữu Hải – Lê Văn Lân (South) vs Hoàng Quân – Lê Hùng Nam (North)

2. Nông Trung Hiếu – Vũ Phạm Nguyên An (South) vs Đoàn Văn Nam – Lưu Văn Tuấn (North)

3. Nguyễn Ngọc Khôi – Jamie Bảo Nguyễn (South) vs Hà Ngọc Hoàng Lộc – Trần Bình Quang Huy (North)

4. Hoàng Ngọc Quý – Đỗ Duy Hiền vs Thái Trung Hiếu – Trần Thế Cường

Afternoon: Foursome

1. Mai Đức Thuỷ – Trần Anh Linh (South) vs Hà Ngọc Hoàng Lộc – Trần Bình Quang Huy (North)

2. Nông Trung Hiếu – Đỗ Duy Hiền (South) vs Nguyễn Văn Tài – Lê Khả Tuyên (North)

3. Huỳnh Quang Đức – Nguyễn Văn Hưng (South vs Thái Trung Hiếu – Trần Thế Cường (North)

4. Andrew Hùng Phạm – Lê Văn Lân (South) vs Hoàng Quân – Đoàn Văn Nam (North)

Within 3 days, winning team will be the first team reach the score of 14.5, in case more than one team with the same score of 14/14, the champion of previous year would continue being the new one.

– Vietnam Insider

Disturbing footage shows the moments before the fatal Uber self-driving-car crash

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  • Police have released footage from a fatal crash involving one of Uber’s self-driving vehicles.
  • It is believed to be the first time an autonomous vehicle has killed a pedestrian.
  • The video shows the vehicle operator looking away and the pedestrian walking across the road.


Police have released footage from the moments before a fatal crash involving one of Uber’s self-driving cars and a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona.

The video, captured by the vehicle, shows both the forward view from the front of the car when the pedestrian enters the roadway and the reaction of Uber’s vehicle operator in the driver’s seat directly before the crash, which the footage does not show.

The footage from the interior shows the Uber’s vehicle operator, who was not controlling the vehicle at the time, periodically looking down and away from the road.

The pedestrian emerges from the shadows on the left lane of the road, pushing a bicycle, as the vehicle drives along the right lane.

You can watch the footage below, but be warned that some may find its contents disturbing.

On Sunday at about 10 p.m. local time, one of Uber’s autonomous vehicles hit Elaine Herzberg, 49, in what is believed to be the first time a self-driving vehicle has killed a pedestrian.

Uber has grounded its fleet of self-driving vehicles, and authorities are investigating.

In a statement an Uber representative said: “The video is disturbing and heartbreaking to watch, and our thoughts continue to be with Elaine’s loved ones. Our cars remain grounded, and we’re assisting local, state, and federal authorities in any way we can.”

Police have said the vehicle did not meaningfully slow before the crash. It’s not yet clear whether its sensors picked up Herzberg (lidar, a key technology in self-driving cars that uses lasers to detect obstacles, does not require daylight to function).

Speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle earlier this week, Tempe’s police chief, Sylvia Moir, said: “I suspect preliminarily it appears that the Uber would likely not be at fault in this accident.”

Moir added: “It’s very clear it would have been difficult to avoid this collision in any kind of mode” — autonomous or human-driven — “based on how she came from the shadows right into the roadway.”

By: Rob Price, Source: Business Insider

Top Vietnamese firms among best to work for in the country: survey

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Foreign firms still dominated the top 20, but there were more Vietnamese firms in the top five than ever before.
Vietnamese dairy giant Vinamilk beat four-time champion Unilever to be named the best company in the country to work for last year.

It was followed by Nestle, Vietnamese telco giant Viettel and Vietcombank in the 2017 “Best Places to Work” survey, marking the very first time Vietnam has had three local firms in the top five of the annual survey conducted by solutions firm Anphabe.

Unilever did not appear in the top 100.

The survey was the largest ever conducted, collecting feedback from a pool of 62,268 respondents and data from 50 interviews with CEOs and human resources managers.

The results have been verified by market researcher Intage Vietnam.

In general, foreign firms continued to dominate the ranking, accounting for 14 of the top 20.

In January last year, Vietnam was ranked among the best destinations for a successful expat career thanks to a good work-life balance and employment benefits, according to HSBC.

The London-based bank’s Expat Explorer survey questioned 26,871 expats from more than 100 countries and territories between March and May 2016 about their careers and personal finance, as well as the economic, cultural and quality of life in their host countries.

The survey placed Vietnam 19th overall, just above Japan.

Top 100 list:

Source: Vnexpress, Anphabe

13 dead, 28 injured in Saigon apartment fire

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Thirteen tenants were killed while 28 others were injured in a blaze that slowly engulfed a luxury apartment in Ho Chi Minh City early on Friday.

The fire started at the lower part of the Carina apartment on Vo Van Kiet Street in District 8 at around 1:30 am, sending multiple pieces of concrete to collapse, trapping residents, most of whom were sleeping, inside the building.

More than 200 firefighters and 34 fire trucks were immediately dispatched to the scene, but still failed to rescue some residents. The fire was put out at around 4:30 am.

As of 8:00 am the same day, Nguyen Thanh Huong, acting director of the Ho Chi Minh City fire department, said 13 people were confirmed dead, while 28 others were injured.

The chairwoman of Nguyen Thai Binh Ward of District 1 was among the victims. It is not immediately clear if she was dead or injured.

The building’s 22,000-square-meter basement, with a parking space of 1,000 square meters, were completely destroyed, with 150 motorbikes and 13 cars burned.

Many rescued residents said they had no idea that their building was on fire as the alarm system did not work.

“There was no alarming sound and the fire sprinkler system just didn’t work,” one resident said. “We only learned of the fire when its smoke and heat reached the 14th floor.”

People climb out of the building. Photo: Tuoi Tre
People climb out of the building. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Vo Van Hoan, head of the secretariat of the Ho Chi Minh City administration, said the fire resulted in the biggest damage costs and casualties in the southern metropolis in recent years.

It is the second worst fire in Ho Chi Minh City in the last two decades, following the blaze that killed 60 and injured 70 others at the ITC trade center in October 2002.

Nguyen Phuc, director of the 577 JSC, the developer of the Carina, said the building was put into use in 2009 and no major incidents had occurred until Friday’s fire.

He turned down questions from reporters during a quick media meeting held at the scene of fire that the apartment’s fire alarm system was out of order, saying a thorough inspection is needed to give out the answer.

Phuc also said the developer will begin calculating compensation and taking other necessary steps following the tragedy.

 

 

Source: Tuoitre

 

VN Index up to new record high

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Viet Nam’s benchmark VN Index beat the all-time high of 1,170 points on Thursday morning and was kept positive by good performance of energy and real-estate stocks.

The VN Index on HCM Stock Exchange advanced 0.54 per cent to close at a record high of 1,175.62 points.

The benchmark index had gained a total of 4.1 per cent in the previous eight consecutive trading sessions.

The minor HNX Index on Ha Noi Stock Exchange fell for the second day, dropping 0.57 per cent to end at 134.19 points.

The northern bourse index had declined by 0.24 per cent on Wednesday.

Nearly 166 million shares, worth VND4.43 trillion (US$197 million), were traded on the two local exchanges.

Despite the progress of the benchmark index, the market trading condition was negative, with 182 gaining stocks against 227 decliners on the two local exchanges.

Of the 20 sectors on the stock market, energy and real-estate industries remained positive on increased oil prices and first-quarter earnings prospects.

Brent crude oil narrowed its growth to 0.03 per cent on Thursday morning and traded at $69.49 per barrel. It had jumped 5.2 per cent in the past two days.

This improvement in oil prices helped Vietnamese energy stocks to progress, including PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), PetroVietnam Mud Drilling (PVC) and PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD).

Among the gainers in the real-estate sector were FLC Group (FLC), Vingroup (VIC), Novaland (NVL), Dream House Investment Corp (DRH) and HCM City Infrastructure Investment JSC (CII).

On the negative side, rubber producers and healthcare service providers were among those that weighed on the stock market.

The UPCOM Index on the Unlisted Public Company Market lost 0.32 per cent to 60.44 points, going down further from its previous three-day decline of 1.9 per cent.

The afternoon trading sessions start at 1pm.

 

 

Source: VNA

Foreign tourists with fat wallets have no idea where to spend in Vietnam: insiders

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Most tourists say goods and services in Vietnam are not worth the money.

While more and more Vietnamese are taking outbound tours and spending big in international destinations, foreign tourists are complaining that they have quite few reasons to open their wallets when visiting the Southeast Asian country.

Most international tourists plan only a short stay in Vietnam, and those who are willing to spend lavishly find few services or items worth their price.

Min-jun, a South Korean on a six-day-five-night visit to Ho Chi Minh City with his six-member family, visited the famed Ben Thanh Market, but left with only a few bags of dried lotus seeds and coffee.

The tourist told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that he had wanted to buy handicrafts and souvenirs, but found the products to be either poor quality or overpriced.

Tam Bui, the Vietnamese photographer behind a number of coffee-table photobooks, shared his personal travel experiences with Tuoi Tre, citing that other countries are quite good at convincing tourists to spend money while “in Vietnam, those who want to spend don’t know what to buy.”

Tam said souvenirs in the countries he has visited are diverse and unique.

“They may not be cheap but you can’t resist traveling home with them in your luggage,” he said.

“I wonder if Vietnam has a research team to study which souvenirs are attractive and convenient for international tourists.”

A tourist bargains with a seller at Ben Thanh Market

Thao, who works for an ad agency in Ho Chi Minh City, said she consistently left scratching her head when it comes to choosing “typical Vietnamese gifts” for her foreign partners, often settling on small figurines featuring Vietnamese women in three different traditional dresses or refrigerator magnets in the shape of women donning ao dai, Vietnam’s traditional gown.

Other common gifts, including lacquerware and souvenirs made from bamboo and wood, are also available but “it isn’t easy to find those that are typically Vietnamese,” she said.

“And if you choose clothes or silk, chances are you will end up buying ‘made-in-China’ products,” she warned.

Changes needed

Ho Chi Minh City received nearly 6.4 million tourists in 2017, a strong 22.8 percent increase from a year earlier.

However, tourist spending only rose 12.6 percent in the same period, meaning more visitors are coming to Vietnam, but they are spending less.

The municipal tourism department put the blame on booming online travel services which offer would-be big spenders the opportunity to plan their trip via the Internet rather than through local tour organizers.

Holidaymakers are booking their own flights and hotel rooms through services run by international companies, leaving a meager piece of the pie for Vietnamese travel firms.

When it comes to shopping in Ho Chi Minh City, foreign tourists are also reluctant to spend large sums, instead preferring to try their hand at Vietnam’s bargaining culture.

Two foreign customers ask price of a souvenir at a shop on Dong Khoi Street

 

Source: Tuoitrenews

Vinfast announces winning hatchback designs

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Vinfast has announced the two most popular electric and petrol-fuelled hatchback automobile designs of the 36 designs offered to vote. The winners are the IDC EV A (electric) and IDG ICE A (petrol).

Notably, on March 8, VinFast announced 36 hatchback car designs, including 17 electric and 19 petrol small-d models. They were created by automobile design studios ItalDesign, One One Lab, Pininfarina, and Torino Design.
After a 10-day vote which was joined by 300,000 people, 22.8 per cent voted for the IDC EV A electric car and 21 per cent for the IDG ICE A petrol car.

Previously, in October 2017, Vinfast introduced 20 sedan and SUV automobile designs in a public contest to select the most popular models in Vietnam.

The 20 models designed specifically for Vinfast came from four well-known automobile design studios, namely Pininfarina, Zagato, Torino, and Ital Design, who created shapes for Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, BMW, Cadillac, Ferrari, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and Rolls-Royce, among others. They have presented Vinfast with an impressive collection.

As a result, Sedan 02 and SUV 02, which were created by automobile design studio Ital Design, received the largest number of votes.

VinFast expects to launch the Sedan 02 and SUV 02 at the Paris Motorshow 2018 organised in October and the Vietnam Motorshow 2018 in December. Meanwhile, the small electric and petrol hatchback models will be launched in late 2019, one year earlier than initially planned.

At present, the firm is accelerating the construction of workshops as well as other infrastructure to catch up with the schedule, while simultaneously signing contracts with foreign partners to buy designs, machinery, as well as facilities.

Source: VIR

South-east Asia stocks: Philippines rebounds, Vietnam hits record

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SINGAPORE, March 22 — Most South-east Asian stock markets rose today, with the Philippines bouncing back from steep losses and Vietnam scaling an all-time peak, as the US Federal Reserve’s rate outlook for 2018 was seen as less hawkish than expected.

The Fed raised its interest rate on Wednesday and reiterated two more rate increases this year, signalling caution in its monetary policy tightening pace.

Philippine shares rose 1.1 per cent on broad-based gains, bouncing back from three straight sessions of sharp losses.

The country has experienced significant foreign fund outflows over the past few weeks, with the benchmark down about 6.6 per cent year-to-date.

The Philippine central bank is expected to leave its benchmark rate steady at its monetary policy meeting today, on optimism that annual inflation would ease back to its target range next year, a Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.

The Fed maintaining its outlook for a total of three rate increases for the year helps retain the allure of higher yielding assets in emerging markets.

Indonesian shares gained 0.4 per cent, helped by gains across the board. Telecom services stocks and materials contributed the most to the benchmark, which broke a six-session losing streak yesterday.

Telekomunikasi Indonesia was the top contributor, rising as much as 1.4 per cent to recoup some of its losses last week.

The index of the country’s 45 most liquid stocks added 0.4 per cent.

Malaysian shares gained 0.3 per cent as financials and consumer staples rose. Malayan Banking Bhd gained as much as 1.4 per cent.

Vietnam shares rose 1.6 per cent to a record, led by gains in consumer staples and utilities. Seafood processing firm Vinh Hoan Corp was up as much as 3.4 per cent.

Meanwhile, Singapore shares lost 0.4 per cent, weighed down by financials, with Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp Ltd shedding 1.1 per cent.

— Reuters

Mark Zuckerberg Breaks Silence on Facebook User-Data Controversy

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CEO acknowledges a ‘breach of trust between Facebook and the people who share their data with us’.

Mark Zuckerberg, in his first comments since the user-privacy crisis now engulfing the company broke last Friday, admitted Facebook has made mistakes and outlined what it plans to do to restore trust with users.

The issue: Cambridge Analytica, a U.K.-based political data-analytics firm hired by the 2016 Trump campaign, got its hands on data for 50 million Facebook users — without the users’ knowledge or consent.

“I’ve been working to understand exactly what happened and how to make sure this doesn’t happen again. The good news is that the most important actions to prevent this from happening again today we have already taken years ago,” Zuckerberg wrote in a blog post Wednesday. “But we also made mistakes, there’s more to do, and we need to step up and do it.”

Here’s what Zuckerberg said Facebook will do: First, it will investigate all apps that had access to “large amounts of information” before Facebook changed its policies to reduce data access in 2014.

Second, Facebook will restrict developers’ data access “even further to prevent other kinds of abuse,” according to Zuckerberg. For example, it will remove developers’ ability to access user data if a Facebook users hasn’t used their app in three months. Third, within the next month, Facebook will display a tool at the top of the News Feed with apps users have used and an easy way to revoke those apps’ permissions to your data.

Facebook says Aleksandr Kogan, the University of Cambridge researcher who sold the data to Cambridge Analytica after procuring it through a personality-quiz app dating back to 2013, lied to Facebook and violated its policies. In 2015, Facebook demanded that Cambridge Analytica and Kogan “formally certify that they had deleted all improperly acquired data” and they provided those certifications, according to Zuckerberg.

However, upon learning that Cambridge Analytica may not have deleted all the Facebook user data in question, Facebook on March 16 barred Cambridge Analytica and its parent company from using its platform. Facebook says it no longer allows third-party apps to capture data the way that was done in this case.

“This was a breach of trust between Kogan, Cambridge Analytica and Facebook,” Zuckerberg wrote. “But it was also a breach of trust between Facebook and the people who share their data with us and expect us to protect it. We need to fix that.”

The scandal has drawn renewed scrutiny on Facebook’s data-handling practices from lawmakers and regulators, led some users to call for a boycott (via the hashtag #DeleteFacebook) and prompted lawsuits from shareholders and users. It ignited a two-day selloff of Facebook stock, before shares recovered some ground Wednesday.

Zuckerberg’s low profile on the Cambridge Analytica story over the last several days has been conspicuous. The CEO reportedly did not participate in a Q&A Tuesday with employees, and morale at Facebook is said to be at a low point.

What’s next: Facebook is facing an inquiry from the Federal Trade Commission, which is looking into whether the social-media company violated a 2011 agreement with the agency requiring user consent over disclosures of personal data.

At this point, it’s unclear whether the uproar over Cambridge Analytica will lead to new legislation or government regulations (or any significant user exodus). Several Wall Street analysts believe Facebook will weather the storm, and they expect minimal long-term impact on the internet powerhouse’s overall ad business.

 

Source: Variety

 

Big challenges await Spotify in Vietnam

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Spotify has officially joined the Vietnamese market. The world’s largest digital music service, Spotify has been warned about challenges it could face in Vietnam where people are used to free music services.

The news on March 13, 2018 about Spotify became a hot topic of discussion on social networks, which appeared to indicate a good future.

However, analysts said that this does not mean Spotify will ‘make things happen’ in Vietnam. Apple Music and Netflix also stirred up the public when they arrived in the country.

The number of people trying Apple Music increased rapidly in the first days of service. However, it still has not become popular in Vietnam, because the majority of people want free music service. Meanwhile, Apple Music sets high service fee and doesn’t focus on Vietnam’s music.

Analysts commented that the monthly fee of VND59,000 set by Spotify is the same as Apple Music in Vietnam. The subscription fee is much cheaper than other markets, but higher than the fee set by other music websites.

The VIP service fee set by Nhaccuatui and Zing Mp3 is around VND30,000 a month and VND80,000 for three months.

The fees for long-term subscribers would be even lower, VND150,000 for six months and VND270,000 for 12 months.

Currently, Spotify only accepts payment via Visa/Master Card. Zing Mp3 and Nhaccuatui accept other payment methods, including via scratch cards and e-wallets such as Zalo Pay and MoMo.

Spotify provides free music, but there are limitations. Users, for example, can have six songs within one hour and can only listen to online music with a smartphone app.

However, there are differences between Spotify and other service providers. The biggest advantage of Spotify lies in its interface and user experience which are better than other applications. It suggests music and playlists based on users’ behavior and tastes.

However, the challenges will be big for Spotify. Though Spotify has its marketing solutions to attract users, such as providing a free version and acting as the exclusive distributor of some albums like Tam 9, some of the rules it sets (no offline downloads on smartphones) would keep Vietnamese users away.

Collecting fees from users and ads are the major sources of income of service providers like Spotify. However, users want free music, and the income from ads is shrinking because of the competition from Google and Facebook.

Source: VietNamNet

Exploring Vietnam’s ‘Underground Palace’

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At 31.4 kilometers long, Paradise Cave is the longest dry cave in Asia.

Paradise Cave is part of the UNESCO-recognized Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park, 70 kilometeres (43 miles) northwest of Dong Hoi City in central Vietnam. Discovered by a local man in 2005, the cave was later fully explored and unveiled in 2010 by researchers from the British Cave Research Association.
The cave can reach 80 meters (87 yards) high, while the widest point stretches to 150 meters. Its limestone formation’s history of 350 to 400 million years has produced eye-catching stalactites and stalagmites.
The explorers, enthralled by the beauty of limestones inside the cave, named it Paradise. Since then, the cave has become a tourist attraction.
Wooden stairs have been installed for the first 1 kilometer that’s open to the public, which involves a relatively easy walk of half an hour. The full-length trip requires special permission and is only available for research.
The mammoth stalactites and stalagmites are well lit by an artificial lighting system. Huge chambers of pale blue rocks and white limestones follow each other as you descend deep into the cave.
Some of the formations have strange shapes such as an elephant or giant mushroom.
Paradise Cave’s limestones are commonly deemed one of the most beautiful in the national park. Its stalactites and stalagmites are constantly growing unlike most other caves where the rocks are now dry.
Adventure lovers may enjoy a 7 kilometer trekking tour in the cave that needs to be booked in advance. The tour explores darker parts and includes kayaking or swimming, sliding around in mud, and climbing rough wet rocks.
Tourists often combine Paradise Cave with Dark Cave, another popular site in Phong Nha – Ke Bang, 6.5 kilometers to the north.

 

 

Source: Vnexpress

Guide to Set-up a 100% Foreign-Owned Company in Vietnam.

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Creation of a company in Vietnam is slightly different to what an entrepreneur from another country might be used to. While the opportunities for companies based in Vietnam are compelling, the company registration process is more complex and bureaucratic than the USA, Australia and Singapore, for example.

Fortunately, the days of needing 4-5 months to register a company have passed, as has the insistence on local partners. Steady improvements are being made to processing times too. Nonetheless, there is some work to prepare for the formation of a foreign-owned startup in Vietnam. This article provides an overview.

The Company Registration Process in Vietnam

A registered company is key for your startup to enter into contracts, employ staff and collect revenues in Vietnam. A foreign-owned Limited Liability Company (LLC) is the most common company structure for foreign-owned startups in Vietnam.

For this type of company, you’ll go through a two stage process. You’ll need approval from the Department of Planning and Investment (typically in the form of an Investment Registration Certificate, IRC) for your project in Vietnam, and then an Enterprise Registration Certificate (ERC) for the creation of your company. The official timelines are about 45 days for the completion of these stages but preparation is key.

Preparation for Company Registration

Delays are often encountered where the required preparation has not been completed. There are four key considerations:

1) Clarify your Business Lines and Scope

Vietnam’s accession to the WTO required that the nation opened its economy to foreign investment in a wide range of business lines. The majority of tech startups will target ‘software development’ or ‘consulting’ business lines. Applications for these business lines are relatively straight-forward.

However, some business lines remain restricted to foreigners in Vietnam (for example, real estate and finance). Some of these other fields remain subject to case-by-case review or conditional approvals (eg. trading), caps on foreign ownership (eg. tourism) or require licenses and sub-licenses (eg. F&B).

2) Check your Capital and Proposed Scale

Vietnam requires you to prove you’re serious about your business. While there isn’t a strict law on what represents the minimum capital, approval from the Department of Planning and Investment will only be issued with proof of sufficient capital for your nominated business line. This capital must be deposited soon after creating the company.

3) Get a Company Address

Physical proof of your company’s planned location in Vietnam is key to your application. This can present a chicken-and-egg argument, as you will need to be incorporated before you can sign a lease, and you can’t incorporate until you have a signed lease. An MOU with your intended address may suffice, but there are other practical solutions to this issue.

4) Confirm your Ownership & Management Structure

You will need to nominate the owners of the business and verify their credentials. Note that the supporting documents required for a foreign owner that is a company are different to those documents required if the foreign owner is an individual. You might be tempted to form a Vietnamese-owned company to avoid some of these hassles, but remember that this incurs some risks and will complicate the payment of any dividends to foreigners.

The management structure underneath this may vary depending on how many owners your company will have. You may also need to think about a Controller and Chairman at this stage.

Get Expert Guidance

Of course, there are many other options when it comes to company formation, including other company structures (such as a Joint Stock Company) and activity codes (including ECommerce). Contact Metasource or GBS, the strongly recommended business and legal services firms in for further information on the establishment of a company in Vietnam.

Continue reading “Guide to Set-up a 100% Foreign-Owned Company in Vietnam.”

Vietnamese teenagers arrested for robbing foreigners in Hoi An

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One victim was a Japanese man who was riding a bicycle earlier this month when his bag was snatched.
Police in the central resort town Hoi An have arrested two men accused of committing a series of robberies in the usually peaceful town.

Duong Chien Thang, 19, and Nguyen Khanh Huy, 18, are the prime suspects behind at least six robberies involving tourists in Hoi An this month, a police report said, as cited by local media on Wednesday.

The two have admitted to several bag snatchings, including one involving a Japanese tourist who was carrying an iPhone and nearly $100 in cash.

Street crime is uncommon in Hoi An, which is known as one of the most peaceful towns in Vietnam.

The once busting trade port now draws tourists to its picturesque wooden houses, pagodas, street-side eateries and hundreds of tailor shops.

A travel forum run by U.S. magazine USA Today described Hoi An two years ago as one of the 10 most beautiful places in Southeast Asia, a place where one can find “tranquility and timelessness.”

The town, where motorbikes and cars are banned from the center, received 3.22 million visitors in 2017, up 22 percent from the previous year, including 1.78 million foreigners.

By Minh Minh, VNExpress

 

Day of Happiness 2018: How happy is Vietnam?

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Global reports offer differing views on just how happy the country is.
The International Day of Happiness is celebrated every year on March 20, and was first introduced by the United Nations in 2013.

To mark the occasion, let’s take a look at Vietnam’s levels of happiness in reports compiled by global experts.

In the most recent index published earlier this month, Vietnam ranks 95th out of 156 countries in terms of happiness, according to the World Happiness Report 2018 (WHR), an initiative launched by the United Nations in 2012. This is a slight drop compared to last year when it ranked 94th.

The country also ranks 102nd in terms of changes in happiness, down 0.258 points from 2008-2010.

According to the report, the happiest country in the world is Finland, followed by Norway, Denmark and Iceland.

Vietnam’s WHR ranking this year is lower than in other Asian countries such as Singapore (34th), Malaysia (35th), Thailand (46th) and China (86th), but higher then in neighboring Laos (110th) and Cambodia (120th).

The WHR ranks countries according to six criteria: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity and perceptions of corruption.

However, Vietnam’s WHR ranking doesn’t match the fifth position it was given on the happiness index of the 41st Annual Global End of the Year Survey (AGEYS) compiled by Gallup International Association, which was announced in January this year.

Not as in-depth as the U.N. report, the AGEYS index simply asks people how happy they feel in general. Seventy-eight percent of Vietnamese people, who are usually described as optimists, answered either “happy” or “very happy” about life, according to data from the polling organization, which is registered in Switzerland.

Another report which contradicts the WHR’s statistics is the U.K.’s 2016 Happiness Planet Index (HPI), which also listed Vietnam as one of the five happiest countries in the world.

The HPI, compiled by a U.K. based think tank, measures the happiness index of 140 countries using four criteria: life expectancy, wellbeing, ecological footprint and inequality.

In terms of methodology, the HPI differs from the WHR in two ways: the wellbeing index (which is gathered by asking individuals of each country how happy they feel) and the ecological footprint index (which measures the impact of people on the environment, the lower the score the better).

The reasons for Vietnam’s high position on the HPI chart are high life expectancy (75.5 years) and low ecological footprint. According to the index, Vietnam’s environment has not yet been overexploited by its people, which greatly influenced the ranking.

The HPI also points out that when Vietnamese were asked about their satisfaction with life on a scale from zero to ten, the average score was only 5.5.

Some might argue there’s no way to judge how happy a certain country is given the myriads of ways happiness can be defined.

 

 

Source: VNExpress

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