2026 Outlook for Vietnam’s Corporate Bond Market: “More positive and active, with an improving credit quality trend”

By the end of 2025, Vietnam’s Corporate Bond Market recorded a total issuance value of VND 644.3 trillion, up 35.5% year-on-year. Growth was driven primarily by the bank, real estate, and securities services sectors, while issuance activity among non-financial sectors remained limited.

Key highlights:

🔹 Total issuance in the primary market reached VND 644.3 trillion, of which private placements accounted for 91.4%, while public offerings remained modest, representing 8.6% of total issuance.

🔹 Outstanding corporate bonds reached VND 1,413 trillion, accounted for 11.4% of GDP, still significantly below the peak level of 18.3% of GDP during the 2020–2021 period and the 20% target set by the Government for end-2025.

🔹 In terms of issuance structure, the bank and real estate sectors continued to dominate, accounting for 66% and 23%, respectively, of total issuance value in 2025. Notably, issuance by the real estate sector recorded strong growth of 58%, indicating a clear recovery trend.

🔹 Regarding the number of issuers, 122 corporates conducted bond issuance in 2025, bringing the total number of issuers with outstanding bonds to 321 as of 31 December 2025.

2026 Outlook for Vietnam’s Corporate Bond Market

FiinRatings assesses that in 2026, Vietnam’s corporate bond market will continue to strengthen its role as an important medium- and long-term funding channel for the corporate sector. However, market growth prospects are expected to be increasingly linked to issuers’ ability to meet higher credit standards and transparency requirements, rather than relying on pure scale-driven expansion as seen in previous periods.

Corporate bond supply is projected to increase in 2026, mainly due to tighter bank credit conditions and a rising trend in bank lending interest rates, which are expected to encourage corporates to diversify their funding sources. Nevertheless, FiinRatings believes that market access will become more polarized by credit quality and credit ratings, as issuers with high financial leverage, weak cash flows, or limited transparency may face greater challenges in accessing the bond market.

From a market quality perspective, FiinRatings expects the average credit quality of newly issued corporate bonds to improve, supported by key changes in the regulatory framework. The introduction of financial leverage thresholds (with the liabilities-to-equity ratio capped at below five times under the amended Enterprise Law), the expansion of mandatory credit rating requirements for corporate bonds offered to individual investors (except for bank-issued bonds), along with stricter supervision of fund utilization purposes and enhanced disclosure obligations, are expected to strengthen market discipline and mitigate systemic credit risks.

On the demand side, FiinRatings views the development of the institutional investor base as a key factor supporting the medium-term stability of the corporate bond market. The establishment of new investment fund models under Decision No. 3168 of the Ministry of Finance, the expansion of open-ended funds, and the integration of credit ratings into asset allocation and risk management frameworks are expected to enhance the market’s absorption capacity for issuances with strong credit quality. In parallel, clearer regulations governing professional individual securities investors, improvements in market infrastructure, and in particular the draft new decree on private bond placements, which includes provisions related to fund utilization purposes and the role of credit institutions in managing collateral assets, are expected to further enhance transparency and investor protection.

Overall, FiinRatings assesses the 2026 outlook for Vietnam’s corporate bond market as “very positive and active, with an improving credit quality trend,” despite ongoing risks related to rising funding costs, elevated credit differentiation across corporate segments, and issuers’ ability to adapt to new market standards.

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FiinRatings stands ready to support clients in optimizing capital strategies for 2026 through:
▪️ Credit Rating Services for Issuers or specific debt instruments
▪️ Company Credit Assessment, Sector Credit Research, and Portfolio Credit
Monitoring
▪️ Independent assessments of green bonds, green loans, and ESG assessments.

Please contact us for further support:
📧 𝐄𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥: support.fiinratings@fiingroup.vn
📞 𝐓𝐞𝐥: (84-24) 3562 6962