A screen shot of VNDirect's announcement on its website.

HÀ NỘI — On April 1, VNDirect Securities Corporation officially received permission from the Vietnam Stock Exchange to resume its trading system following the resolution of a recent cyber attack. Both the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) and the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX) have confirmed that VNDirect can recommence trading activities starting today.

On March 31, the securities firm reported the testing results and proposed to reconnect its trading system. After a week of rectifying the error, it has successfully completed the restoration and reconnection phase, entering the recovery phase of the four-phase plan. The company will continue to review and reopen all system features and services, adhering to the necessary protocols.

Additionally, VNDirect Securities Corporation has also unveiled favourable policies to customers following a trading disruption incident last week, but they are deemed insufficiently persuasive by critics.

As part of these measures, the securities firm will waive the transaction fees for underlying securities throughout April. This applies to both existing and new customers, excluding exchange fees for stock exchanges and taxes.

It also waives the interest on margin trading from March 25 until the trading system resumes. This applies to all customers with outstanding margin trading balances.

Moreover, VNDirect announces that they waive interest on debit balances and overnight position management fees for derivative securities trading from March 25 until the trading system resumes. This applies to all customers with outstanding debit balances or overnight positions.

The company will implement an interest rate of 9.3 per cent for margin trading in April. This applies to customers with margin trading balances on any day during the month. Both existing and new balances in April are included in this policy.

The customer appreciation programme for April will take effect once trading resumes for the respective services. Policies for May and June will be updated and communicated to customers as soon as possible.

Phạm Văn Hải, an investor from Hà Nội, told Vietnam News Agency that the fee-free trading policies are nothing new, as other securities companies are also racing to offer free trading.

Meanwhile, the interest waiver on margin trading and the waiver of interest on debit balances for derivative position management only apply to investors who use these services.

For retail investors who do not utilise leverage, this policy is similar to what other securities companies have already implemented, even without any incidents, Hải said. — VNS