May 2025 Bond Spotlight: Strong rebound in primary market issuance and initial market recognition of benefits from Greenium

Vietnam’s corporate bond market witnessed strong growth in May 2025, with total issuance value reaching VND 54.5 trillion—up 11.7% month-on-month—driven primarily by credit institutions. FiinRatings’ latest Monthly Bond Spotlight report provides a comprehensive market overview, highlights active developments in the secondary market, and explores the initial benefits from Greenium in Vietnam.

Vietnam’s corporate bond market witnessed strong growth in May 2025, with total issuance value reaching VND 54.5 trillion—up 11.7% month-on-month—driven primarily by credit institutions. FiinRatings’ latest Monthly Bond Spotlight report provides a comprehensive market overview, highlights active developments in the secondary market, and explores the initial benefits from Greenium in Vietnam.

🔷 Key Macroeconomic Impact Factors:

• USD/VND exchange rate remains high due to escalating domestic demand for USD from enterprises and Vietnam State Treasury, further tightening supply. Meanwhile, the SBV has flexibly adjusted the central exchange rate to a record high, providing more room for the market to self-regulate.
• The deposit and lending interest rates remain at low levels, creating favorable conditions for enterprises to access credit capital. At the same time, the SBV continues to inject net liquidity through Open Market Operations (OMO) to support banks’ liquidity in May.

🔷 Primary and Secondary Market Activities:

• The issuance of corporate bonds in May increased both in value (+11.7% compared to the previous month) and in the number of issuances (+45.7% compared to the previous month), with 100% of the new issuance value through private placements, primarily by credit institutions. In contrast, bond issuance by non-bank corporates shows a slow recovery pace, despite also benefiting from low interest rates.
• Bond redemption activities were active, primarily driven by real estate companies and credit institutions (+53.3% compared to the previous month). The total value of bonds maturing in the remaining months of the year is estimated at VND 146.1 trillion, exerting pressure on issuers' ability to meet debt obligations.
• Secondary market transactions in May 2025  reached over VND 115.2 trillion for both private placements and public offerings, with average daily trading value increasing by 9.7% from the previous month to VND 5.76 trillion per day. The banking and real estate sectors remain predominant, accounting for 82.6% the total market transaction value.

🔷  Key Highlights:

• Greenium – the yield differential between green bonds and conventional bonds – has emerged as a noteworthy indicator of investor and issuer interest in sustainable finance, especially in the early stages of market development. In developed European markets like Germany, the greenium has stabilized at 2-3 basis points (bps) since late 2022, reflecting investors’ willingness to take lower yields for investments in environmentally beneficial projects. In the Asian and ASEAN+3 regions, the greenium can reach up to 15 bps, according to the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO)
• In Vietnam, our observations and estimates indicate that the total costs borne by companies when issuing green bonds (including coupons and other relevant expenses) are about 1-2% lower than the average coupon rates of conventional bonds in the same sector. Moving forward, with clearer benefits and a refined legal framework, we expect that the green and sustainable instrument market will thrive, becoming a vital capital raising channel for green infrastructure and environmental projects in Vietnam.

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