Vietnam Securities Q3/2026: Profit Down 42%, Lending Income Hits Record

Overview

Vietnam’s securities industry reported Q3/2026 profit of roughly VND 11,000 billion, down 42% year on year and nearly 28% below the prior quarter, as weak liquidity weighed on brokerage and proprietary trading. Lending and receivables income across the sector rose 34% year on year to a record VND 12,300 billion, with bank-backed brokers TCBS, VPBankS and ACBS outperforming. The divergence matters for HOSE-listed banks TCB, VPB and ACB, whose securities arms sit at the centre of the lending-driven earnings shift.

Key Facts

• Industry-wide Q3/2026 securities profit: approximately VND 11,000 billion, down 42% year on year and about 28% quarter on quarter.
• Lending and receivables income: VND 12,300 billion, up 34% year on year and 4% quarter on quarter, an 11th consecutive quarterly increase and a record.
• Average HoSE matching liquidity in Q3/2026: VND 13,000-14,000 billion per session, down more than half year on year.
• VN-Index fell nearly 5% over the quarter despite being roughly flat over the first nine months of 2026.
• Total market outstanding margin and lending reached VND 455,000 billion, of which margin was VND 440,000 billion, the highest on record and a 14th consecutive quarterly increase.
• TCBS lending and receivables income exceeded VND 1,500 billion, a seventh consecutive quarterly record.
• Several securities firms reported proprietary trading losses in the quarter, and brokerage revenue narrowed with liquidity.

What Happened

Q3/2026 was a difficult quarter for Vietnam’s stock market. Average matching value on the HoSE fell to roughly VND 13,000-14,000 billion per session, less than half the year-earlier level, and the VN-Index ended the quarter down nearly 5% after volatile trading. The article reports that losses were not confined to retail accounts: several foreign funds managing hundreds of millions to over a billion US dollars also recorded negative performance, trailing the VN-Index. Brokerage and proprietary trading, the two cyclical pillars of securities firm revenue, both contracted, and some firms booked proprietary losses outright.

Lending became the offset. According to the article, total interest from lending and receivables rose for an 11th straight quarter to a record VND 12,300 billion, driven by two factors: outstanding market lending climbing to VND 455,000 billion (VND 440,000 billion of it margin), the highest on record and a 14th consecutive quarterly increase, and a high interest-rate environment that raised the value of lending revenue. The article cautions that lending and receivables income is not net lending profit, since firms still bear funding costs that cannot be cleanly separated from other activities. It attributes part of the stability to the ongoing “bankification” of the securities industry, where repo activity functions as an efficient credit outlet for banks and is less sensitive to market swings.

Market Context

On HOSE, TCB closed at VND 34,400 on 21 October 2026, VPB at VND 24,000 and ACB at VND 20,400. The results highlight a structural split within the securities sector: bank-backed brokers with access to cheap, stable balance-sheet funding are compounding lending income even as market turnover collapses, while independent brokers reliant on brokerage and proprietary trading absorb the cyclical hit. For the parent banks, securities arms are increasingly a distribution channel for credit exposure to the market rather than a pure fee business.

Strategic Significance

The strategic point is funding cost and balance-sheet access. When HoSE turnover halves, brokerage economics deteriorate for everyone, but firms backed by a commercial bank can keep extending margin and repo loans because their cost of funds is anchored to deposit franchises rather than market conditions. TCBS, VPBankS and ACBS illustrate this: TCBS alone booked more than VND 1,500 billion in lending and receivables income, a seventh consecutive record. For TCB, VPB and ACB, this reinforces a model where securities subsidiaries convert bank liquidity into secured market lending, generating a steadier earnings stream that partly hedges the cyclicality of brokerage fees. The risk is concentration: record margin balances of VND 440,000 billion raise the sector’s sensitivity to a sharp market drawdown and to margin-call cascades.

What to Watch

• Q4/2026 HoSE average daily turnover, to confirm whether liquidity has bottomed near VND 13,000-14,000 billion per session.
• Monthly margin balance data, to see whether the VND 440,000 billion record keeps climbing or begins to deleverage.
• Q4/2026 earnings disclosures from TCBS, VPBankS and ACBS, to test whether lending income extends its streak.
• State Bank of Vietnam interest-rate decisions, which directly affect lending revenue and funding costs at bank-backed brokers.
• Proprietary trading results at independent brokers, as a gauge of whether the profit decline broadens beyond brokerage.