Shares forecast to face correction pressure but opportunities still exist as the bottom-catching cash flow has returned to some stocks that reached the bottom in July.

The stock market will be closed on Thursday and Friday this week on the occasion of the Independence Day of Việt Nam (September 2), meaning that it will open for trading on only three days from September 30 to September 1.

The VN-Index climbed 0.93 per cent to close Friday at 1,313.20 points. The index had lost a total of 1.22 per cent last week.

Related: Here are the risks of Vietnam’s economic outlook you should know

Việt Dragon Securities Joint Stock Company (VDSC) said that although the VN-Index ended last Friday with a strong increase, the market was still in an accumulation phase, after a sharp decline in the previous week.

“More cash flow had returned to the stock market with many stocks continuing to rise strongly, which meant the cash flow was still moving continuously and always looking for investment opportunities,” Việt Dragon said.

“In the current period, investors can hold good stocks or find more opportunities to invest in the short term,” it said.

MB Securities Joint Stock Company (MBS) said the VN-Index had a positive recovery session at the end of last week, with the rebound of blue chips beside the rises of small and medium-sized stocks. The 1,290 – 1,300 point zone had become a strong support zone.

Investors could restructure part of their portfolio to the blue-chip group after the cash flow returned to bottom fishing with some stocks reaching the bottom in July, MBS recommended.

Also read: It’s not just the global manufacturing supply chains being strained, coffee supplies are suffering by Vietnam’s virus curbs

SSI Securities Joint Stock Company (SSI) said that the VN-Index would continue to increase this week. However, because it was still in a short-term downtrend, the index would soon face correcting pressure when the VN-Index was heading to the resistance area near 1,340 points.

“The nearest support area for VN-Index is at 1,300-1,292 points,” it said.

Saigon-Hanoi Securities Joint Stock Company (SHS) said from a technical point of view, the VN-Index was still moving in a correcting phase and there was still room for a decrease.

“The market is likely to continue the technical recovery at the beginning of this week, before continuing to correct to lower price ranges. The notable resistance zone is currently in the range of 1,335-1,340 points,” SHS forecast.

“Investors who still have a large proportion of stocks can watch for technical recovery to reduce the proportion. Investors who had taken profits in the short-term portfolios earlier should continue to observe and disburse when the market corrects in a strong support zone in the range of 1,200-1,250 points,” SHS said.

In the context that the COVID-19 pandemic is still spreading and social distancing measures have a negative impact on the economy, the stock market still lacks supportive factors in September, according to Phan Dũng Khánh, director of the investment consultancy department at Maybank Kim Eng Securities Co Ltd.

“Even countries that have implemented vaccination campaigns on a large scale and reopened their economies have seen their economies begin to decelerate, supply chains are disrupted, inflation is still accelerating,” he said.

“The macroeconomic indicators of the third quarter are predicted to be pessimistic and even the business results of enterprises are forecast to be lower than the first two quarters of this year. However, there are still groups of industries that benefited from the pandemic,” said Nguyễn Hồng Khanh, head of market analysis at Việt Nam International Securities Joint Stock Company (VIS).

“Investors often don’t focus too much on the third quarter’s results but rather more on the whole year’s business results,” he said.

“Companies in industries that benefit from the pandemic such as securities, nitrogen fertilisers and logistics will still grow, although the level may slow down a bit compared to the second quarter,” he said.

Last week, banking stocks dropped the most with losers such as Saigon-Hanoi Bank (SHB) down 1.8 per cent, VPbank (VPB) losing 2.1 per cent, Vietcombank (VCB) declining 2.3 per cent, Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID) down 4.4 per cent, Vietinbank (CTG) losing 4.7 per cent, Techcombank (TCB) falling 4.9 per cent, Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) slumping 5.5 per cent, and Military Bank (MBB) down 6.4 per cent.

They were followed by financial and real estate stocks such as Vingroup (VIC) decreasing by 3 per cent, Vinhomes (VHM) losing by 1.1 per cent, Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) falling 2.1 per cent, and Viet Capital Inc (VCI) declining 3.7 per cent.

By Vietnam News

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In early July 2021, Vietnam reported a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic and that resulted in lockdowns, restrictions and disruption to supply chains and businesses shutdown. Vietnam was one of the few countries in South East Asia to report an economic growth during the pandemic.

It is expected Vietnam’s Fund Management Industry can be recovered from the Covid 19 pandemic. Although the Vietnamese authorities tried to regulate the sector, it was reported on International Investment the industry rose 20% year on year. According to the vice chairman of State Securities Commission (SSC) Pham Hong Son, the Vietnamese regulators plan to grow the industry by tightening the licensing process and setting up new and tough rules for new fund management companies “that would help Vietnamese fund management companies meet international standards and practices, and keep the local equity market developing in a sustainable and secure manner,” he said.

It is estimated that Vietnam Fund Management Activities combined managed assets of funds and energy companies as well as those owned by banks. Vietnam has a number of funds management companies with billions of dollars’ worth of assets under its management. For example, one of the biggest fund firm KIM Vietnam Growth Securities Master Investment Trust manage assets worth more than $850 million.

As I wrote about the Euro and Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) before, EVFTA would have a big impact on Vietnam’s economy. Vietnam signed a free trade agreement with the EU and this agreement will gradually reduce most tariffs, regulatory barriers, and red tape and promote should create opportunities for both sides to do business.

New venture fund companies have incorporated gradually in recent months despite the impact of the Covid19 pandemic in Vietnam. It was reported in February 2020 that Korean Investment Management acquired almost 99 percent of 2.5 million shares of Hung Viet Fund Management JSC (HVCapital). Vietnam’s State Securities Commission (SSC) approved this deal. Early September 2020, Nguyen Manh Dzung (Shark Dzung ) was into partnership with Le Hoang Uyen Vy to establish a new fund venture firm called Do Ventures with a total management fund of 50 million USD. “The Vietnamese consumer market is at a tipping point, and is poised for tech companies to launch innovative products. We are passionate about the opportunity to drive economic growth in the country at this critical moment, “said Manh Dzung, co-founder of Do Ventures.

Fund management firms like to invest in food entrepreneurs in Vietnam amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Food technology startups, such as making meat substitutes based on plant ingredients or other foods based on laboratory cultures, are appealing to venture capital firms. This trend was further strengthened during the epidemic period when consumer awareness of clean food increased. Green Monday Holdings, a company which makes pork substitutes made from vegetable ingredients and runs a chain of vegetarian food retailers in Hong Kong, said it had received $70 million from an investor group led by The Rise Fund and Swire Pacific.

Despite the negative impact of the Covid 19 pandemic, it was reported by a local newspaper the profit growth of top companies on Vietnam HOSE index was significant. As on 03/08/2021, there are 288 out of 378 companies reported trading profits in the second quarter of 2021. According to data from Rong Viet Securities Company (VDSC), the growth of the total profit after tax of these enterprises was 46.1% compared to the second quarter of 2020, opening up opportunities for investors and the fund industry.

Vietnam Fund Management Industry would be grown and entered into a new phrase in the next coming years if the pandemic was controlled in Vietnam, and the spotlight will shift to how potential investors can invest in this sector.

By Thoi Nguyen

Thoi Nguyen is a columnist. A graduate of the University of West London, he has written on developments in Vietnam and has also consulted for businesses and governments. He deals with all of his personal and professional businesses both in Vietnam and the UK. He can be reached by email (thoinet80@gmail.com), on Twitter (@thoigen) and Facebook (Nguyen Thoi).

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Liquidity being improved and strong inflows from foreign investments.

However, as the benchmark VN-Index struggled at the resistance level of 1,350 points and fell in the last session, many securities firms have to take a more cautious view on the market this week. 

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index closed last week at 1,341.45 points, marking the first fall in two weeks. Meanwhile, the HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX) was stable at 325.46 points. 

For the week, the VN-Index still gained 2.1 per cent, while the HNX-Index rose by 3.3 per cent. 

The market liquidity on both exchanges was higher than the week before, but still lower than the 20-day moving average. The average liquidity was VNĐ23.8 trillion (US$1.03 billion) per session. 

Trading value on HOSE climbed by 21 per cent to VNĐ102.7 trillion, equivalent to an increase of 25.7 per cent in volume to over 3.2 billion shares, while the trading value on HNX inched 53.6 per cent higher to VNĐ16.7 trillion, equivalent to an increase of 50.2 per cent in volume to 668 million shares.

According to Viet Dragon Securities Corporation (VDSC), the market benchmark still couldn’t break over the resistance level of 1,350 points in the last trading session of the week and dropped slightly. The liquidity in this session increased compared to previous sessions and was higher than the average of the last 50 sessions, showing that investors were taking advantage of the rapid recovery to take profits in the short-term.

The VN-Index is expected to continue to struggle at the resistance level and may correct. However, the correction, if any, is only for rebalancing the market after completing the recovery, the securities firm added.

Therefore, investors should temporarily rebalance their portfolios and take profits on stocks that are under great resistance. At the same time, investors should seek investment opportunities to disburse when the market is balanced and stable again, VDSC recommended. 

Meanwhile, Mirae Asset Securities Việt Nam said that investors’ bullish sentiment was reflected in a series of four consecutive gaining sessions at the beginning of last week. 

In the last session, the VN-Index touched the threshold of 1,350 points in the early session with the positive market breadth. However, selling pressure, which suddenly surged in the afternoon session, dragged the benchmark away from this important resistance level. 

During the week, foreign investors flocked back to the market as they net bought in all five sessions with a total value of more than VNĐ2.4 trillion. Of which, Vinhomes JSC (VHM) was in first place in the net buying list with a value of nearly VNĐ1 trillion, far ahead of the second and third positions of Sacombank (STB) and SSI Securities Corporation (SSI) with a value of VNĐ602 billion and VNĐ522 billion, respectively. 

On the net selling front, Vingroup JSC (VIC) witnessed the largest net sell value of VNĐ340 billion.

Mirae Asset said that after recovery of nearly 120 points in three weeks, the VN-Index is facing short-term resistance at 1,350 points. Next week, the market is likely to be under short-term correcting pressure and the nearest support level is 1,300 – 1,310 points.

According to Vietcombank Securities Company (VCBS), the benchmark has recovered significantly from the short-term bottom of 1,250 points, even amid the uncertainties of the international financial market and complicated developments of the fourth COVID-19 outbreak in Việt Nam. 

“The index will continue to move in a range of 1,300 – 1,350 points in the next few weeks. And the closest resistance level in the near future is 1,350 points,” VCBS said. 

The securities firm recommends short-term investors can consider taking profits of some stocks that have achieved expected profits, and at the same time switch to holding mid-cap stocks that not yet jumped strongly in the previous period.

Meanwhile, long-term investors can take advantage of the corrections to continue to accumulate target stocks with positive growth outlooks and healthy financial foundations in 2021.

Taking a more optimistic view, Bank for Investment & Development of Vietnam Securities Company said that the correction of last week will not affect the market’s rally trend to 1,350 – 1,380 points this week. 

Last week, the market’s recovery helped all stock groups gain points. 

Data compiled by Saigon – Hanoi Securities JSC (SHS) showed that real estate stocks rose strongly with pillar stocks such as Novaland (VNL), Vinhomes JSC (VHM) and Vingroup JSC (VIC) up more than 3 per cent. 

Stocks of securities companies, aviation stocks and information technology stocks also recorded big gains in a range of 0.9 – 9.2 per cent.

By Vietnam News

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The COVID-19 pandemic not only creates challenges for banks, but also pushes them to foster digital transformation to survive, experts have said.

A recent survey by the State Bank of Vietnam found that 95 per cent of credit institutions in Vietnam have either implemented digital transformation strategies or are in the process of formulating them.

It is expected that in the next three to five years digital-only banks will have revenue growth of at least 10 per cent, while regular lenders will have more than 60 per cent of customers using digital transaction channels.

State-owned banks seek to digitise their entire system, while smaller banks have identified certain areas to improve service quality and the customer experience.

Commenting on digital banking development in Việt Nam at an online talkshow IDG TekTalk on Tuesday, Phan Việt Hải, director of information technology and also the digital banking centre at Viet Capital Bank, said digital banks must create a superior customer experience by changing the way services are provided using technology.

Nguyễn Quang Minh, deputy CEO, partnerships, Timo Digital Bank, said, “In addition to offering perfect and up-to-date financial products and services, we also have to really understand the market, customers’ needs and expectations and more importantly, identify the problems and difficulties they are facing every day in each transaction.”

Phạm Quang Minh, general director of Mambu Vietnam, said banking services have changed greatly in the past few years. In Asia, including Việt Nam, rising customer expectations for online and mobile banking services are the driving force behind the digital transformation of financial service providers.

Nguyễn Văn Tuấn, deputy general director of VCCorp & founder of Bizfly Digital Transformation, said currently banks are not only competing with each other but also with rapidly growing fintech companies, which have created “amazing” services and experiences through digital technology and transformation.

For succeeding at the digital transformation, the determination shown by a bank’s bosses plays an important role, he said.

“Technology contributes only around 30 per cent to the success with the remaining 70 per cent being owed to other factors like the mindset of businesses’ leaders and digital transformation,” he added.

According to experts, banks still face challenges in digital transformation related to regulations on electronic transactions, data sharing, network security, and an inadequate legal framework among others.

They said completing a comprehensive legal framework would provide a fillip to digital transformation.

The standardisation of technical infrastructure is also very important to facilitate interconnection and seamless integration between the banking industry and others to form a digital eco-system, they added.

Yeo Siang Tiong, cybersecurity company Kaspersky’s general manager for Southeast Asia, said: “Digital transformation, in any sector, always presents new challenges, but especially for banks and for financial services. To put it simply, revolutionising banks’ way of doing transactions means overhauling their legacy systems including people, processes and technologies.”

Humans remain the weakest link, especially those who lack proper awareness of the simplest risks like phishing and spam, while employees require new training and third-party services should be assessed comprehensively, he said.

“When it comes to security, the endpoint should be the foundation and banks should have known this by now. Financial services should be looking at an adaptive approach in security, which should be proactive rather than reactive – ready before an attack happens.”

Online transaction increases

Due to social distancing restrictions amid the pandemic, online payment has become more convenient than cash, and, with just a smartphone and banking application, users can save, borrow money, pay for electricity, water, television, and internet bills, buy movie and airplane tickets, make hotel reservations, or even buy vegetables or meat online.

Phạm Tiến Dũng, head of the State Bank of Vietnam’s payment department, said online transactions in the first four months of the year jumped by 66 per cent in terms of numbers and 31.2 per cent in value year-on-year, including 86.3 per cent and 123.1 per cent on mobile phones and 95.7 per cent and 181.5 per cent using QR codes.

Statistics from the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam, show that in the first five months its automatic clearing house processed over 800 million transactions worth over VNĐ8 quadrillion ($347.7 billion), an increase of 113 per cent and 169 per cent.

A recent survey by Visa also revealed strong increases in the use of e-wallets, contactless payment via cards and smartphones and QR Code. The year-on-year growth rate of the total e-commerce transaction value in the first quarter of 2021 rose by 5.5 times compared to the fourth quarter of 2020.

By Vietnam News

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• Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index rose 0.31 percent to 1,272.71 points Monday but with trading value plunging double-digit.
• Though the index remained in the red most of the day, strong buying pressure in the last hour of trading pushed it up nearly four points.
• More stories at Vietnam Insider’s Homepage.

This is the 11th session the index has stayed in the 1,200-range as the country imposes strict social distancing measures in major localities amid surging Covid-19 cases.

Trading value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the index is based, plunged nearly 17 percent to VND16.14 trillion ($702 million). The bourse saw 190 stocks gain and 182 lose.
The VN30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, saw 16 tickers gain, led by NVL of real estate developer Novaland Group with a 4.4 percent increase.

The ticker is now at an over two-week high, having risen over 223 percent this year.

FPT of IT giant FPT Corporation rose to a new peak, its third consecutive session in the green. The ticker has shot up 184 percent this year.

It was followed by PDR of Phat Dat Real Estate Development, up 2.1 percent, and KDH of real estate firm Khang Dien House, up 2 percent.

On the losing side, VPB of private lender VPBank dropped 3.1 percent, while MBB of MBBank fell 2 percent.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, gained 0.37 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market fell 0.59 percent.

Source: VNexpress.

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Shares fell on Wednesday as strong selling pressure hampered the growth of banking stocks.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the benchmark VN-Index lost 1.36 per cent to close at 1,279.91 points.

It had risen 0.1 per cent to close Tuesday at 1,297.54 points.

Market breadth was negative as 138 stocks rose while 234 decreased.

Market liquidity stayed almost the same as Tuesday with a trading value of more than VNĐ19.3 trillion (US$834.4 million), equivalent to some 593 million shares traded on the southern market.

After a slight increase on Tuesday, the Vietnamese market reversed Wednesday to fall due to increased selling pressure focused on banking stocks.

Banking stocks traded poorly with losers including Vietinbank (CTG), Vietcombank (VCB), Vibank (VIB), Lien Viet Post Bank (LPB), Military Bank (MBB), Maritime Bank (MSB), VPBank (VPB), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), HDBank (HDB) and Techcombank (TCB).

“The VN-Index saw strong selling pressure from the middle of the morning session but the drop was somewhat restrained in the afternoon session and the VN-Index is now around 1,280,” said BIDV Securities Co.

“Investment cash flow dropped sharply. Meanwhile, foreign investors were net buyers on the HoSE and net sellers on the HNX.

“Besides, market breadth turned negative with increased liquidity compared to the previous session. According to our assessment, the VN-Index may continue to move to the area around 1,265 before bottom fishing demand returns,” it said.

Foreign investors net bought VNĐ326.54 billion on HOSE, including steel company Hoà Phát Group (HPG) with VNĐ157.3 billion, Vinhomes (VHM) with VNĐ145.4 billion and SSI Corporation (SSI) with VNĐ98.9 billion. They were net sellers on the HNX with a value of VNĐ1.32 billion.

On a sector basis, 23 out of 25 sector indices witnessed decreases, including real estate, securities, information and technology, retail, banking, agriculture, seafood, logistics, wholesale, insurance, healthcare, oil and gas, rubber production and construction materials.

The only two gainers were food and beverages and construction.

The VN30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks in market value, decreased 2.12 per cent to 1,410.30 points. Twenty-two of the VN30 basket declined, while six stocks increased.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index rose 0.05 per cent to close at 296.84 points.

Nearly 88.5 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VNĐ1.9 trillion.

Source: Vietnam News

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In Mongolia, hospitals are overwhelmed. In the tiny archipelago of Seychelles, more than 100 new Covid-19 cases are being reported each day. And in Chile, a nationwide lockdown was lifted this week — but the country is still reporting thousands of daily cases.

What links these countries is that they have each fully inoculated more than 50% of their populations, largely with Chinese-made coronavirus vaccines. And that’s raised questions over the vaccines’ efficacy.

If the Chinese vaccines aren’t working, that’s a huge problem — and not just from a health perspective. Beijing has staked its reputation on providing other countries with vaccines.

As Western nations stockpiled supplies for their own populations, China sent vaccines overseas — in June, the foreign ministry announced the country had delivered more than 350 million Covid-19 doses to more than 80 countries. That mission highlighted inadequate Western efforts at a time when tensions between China and many major democracies were running high.

Questions over the efficacy of China’s Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines now jeopardize that soft-power win for Beijing, although China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin has dismissed such criticism as a “bias-motivated … smear.”

Experts say that while these Chinese vaccines might not be as effective as some, they aren’t a failure. No vaccine gives 100% protection against Covid-19, so breakthrough cases are to be expected.

The crucial metric for measuring success, they say, is preventing deaths and hospitalizations, not aiming for zero Covid-19.

Why are vaccinated people getting sick?

China has two vaccines authorized for emergency use by the World Health Organization (WHO), Sinopharm and Sinovac. Both use inactivated viruses to prompt an immune response in the patient, a tried and tested vaccine method.

Pfizer and Moderna, by contrast, use a newer technology called mRNA, which teaches the body’s cells how to make a piece of the coronavirus spike protein that triggers an immune response.

“If we want to bring down the severe cases (and) the number of deaths, the Sinopharm, Sinovac can help.”Professor Jin Dong-yan,
Virologist, Hong Kong University

So far, trials show Sinopharm and Sinovac have a lower efficacy against Covid-19 than their mRNA counterparts. In Brazilian trials, Sinovac had about 50% efficacy against symptomatic Covid-19, and 100% effectiveness against severe disease, according to trial data submitted to the WHO. Sinopharm’s efficacy for both symptomatic and hospitalized disease was estimated at 79%, according to the WHO.

Both Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 are more than 90% effective against symptomatic Covid-19. Global efficacy studies of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine showed it was 66% effective against moderate to severe illness, 85% effective against severe disease and 100% effective at preventing death. The trials took place at different times, and in places where different variants were circulating.

Experts say the outbreaks in places that used Chinese vaccines are broadly in line with what we would expect from these efficacy rates.

“If we want to bring down the severe cases (and) the number of deaths, the Sinopharm, Sinovac can help,” said Jin Dong-yan, a professor in molecular virology at Hong Kong University.

Ben Cowling, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the same university, said the Chinese vaccines appeared to be limiting the number of serious infections and deaths.

“I think the vaccines are certainly working and they’re certainly saving a lot of lives,” he said.

What’s going on in Chile, Mongolia and Seychelles?

Chile is reporting thousands of new Covid-19 cases each day. There, 55% of the population is fully vaccinated, and among that cohort almost 80% received Sinovac.

But according to the Ministry of Health, 73% of cases in the intensive care unit between June 17 and 23 were not fully vaccinated.

It’s a similar situation in the Seychelles, where authorities said almost all critical and severe cases of Covid-19 were in people who had not been fully vaccinated. The country is using Sinopharm in adults under 60, while over 60s get Covishield, the AstraZeneca vaccine made in India, which has a similar efficacy rate of 76% against symptomatic Covid-19 and 100% efficacy against severe or critical Covid-19.

The Seychelles Ministry of Health said in a Facebook post last month that of the 63 people who had died from Covid-19 in the country at the time, three had been vaccinated with two doses. All three were aged between 51 and 80. CNN has reached out to the Ministry of Health for comment.

Mongolia has fully vaccinated 53% of its population, with 80% of those people receiving Sinopharm, according to Enkhsaihan Lkhagvasuren, the Ministry of Health’s head of public health policy implementation. A fifth of Mongolia’s Covid-19 cases have been fully vaccinated, but 96% of Covid-19 deaths were in people who were either unvaccinated or had received just one dose, Lkhagvasuren said.

To reach herd immunity, Lkhagvasuren said more than 80% of the population needed to be inoculated. The country of 3 million still has 1.6 million people vulnerable to Covid-19, she said.

“We cannot differentiate between Covid-19 vaccines, saying this one is bad or that one is good.”Enkhsaihan Lkhagvasuren,
Mongolian Ministry of Health

And she maintained that Sinopharm had been very effective.

“We cannot differentiate between Covid-19 vaccines, saying this one is bad or that one is good. All of the available vaccines reduce the risk of severe illness,” she said.

Odgerel Chuluunbat, a fully vaccinated business owner in Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar who tested positive for Covid-19 two weeks ago and recovered at home, said she believed her infection could have been much worse without the Sinopharm vaccine.

“I don’t regret getting the jab,” she said. “Without it, the situation in the country would be very bad.”

With global vaccines in short supply, many developing countries had few other options. Mongolia was allocated more than 112,000 AstraZeneca doses and 126,000 Pfizer doses via COVAX, but production issues and India’s outbreak have delayed deliveries.

Why are vaccinated people dying?

Some people who are getting vaccinated with Sinovac or Sinopharm are still dying of Covid — although these breakthrough cases are possible with any vaccine.

In Indonesia, which the Red Cross warned this week is “on the edge of catastrophe,” at least 88 doctors died of Covid-19 between February and June 26. At least 20 were fully vaccinated with Sinovac, according to Dr. Adib Khumaidi, the chief of Indonesian Medical Association’s risk mitigation team. Another 35 had not been vaccinated, and 33 deaths are still under investigation.

An estimated 1,600 doctors in Indonesia have been infected with Covid-19 in May and June alone, although it’s unclear how many of those had been vaccinated.

Adib said most medical workers died because they were in a unique circumstance: they were overwhelmed with patients, meaning they had to work long hours with little rest.

“Based on our investigation data, the death of medical workers has nothing to do with the Sinovac vaccine,” Adib said. “The most important thing is taking the Covid vaccine and people should keep following health protocols.”

Dr. Hermawan Saputra, an epidemiologist and member of the Indonesian Public Health Experts Association, said more virulent strains of Covid-19 may have reduced the efficacy of the vaccines.

The issue of inoculated people dying from Covid-19 is not contained to Chinese vaccines. A Public Health England report in June found that of the 117 people who died within 28 days of testing positive for the Delta variant in the UK, 50 had received two doses. But such deaths are rare — in total, there were 92,029 Delta cases, of which 58% were unvaccinated. The UK is using Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, which are both mRNA vaccines, and Oxford/AstraZeneca, which uses a different technology.

In an article in the Guardian, statisticians David Spiegelhalter and Anthony Masters said some deaths were to be expected from good, but not perfect, vaccines.

Virologist Jin cautioned there could be underlying issues in these serious cases. Some vaccinated people hospitalized with Covid-19 might be immunocompromized, meaning their body is not able to produce a strong immune response, he said.

Have the Chinese vaccines failed?

Pfizer and Moderna vaccines appear to be more effective than Sinovac and Sinopharm at limiting transmission, but whether the two WHO-approved Chinese vaccines have failed depends on the metrics for success.

Jin said the Chinese vaccines’ efficacy might not be high enough to stop the virus circulating in a community, thereby putting herd immunity out of reach. That runs the risk of vaccine-resistant variants emerging.

“It’s possible that the end of the pandemic might be delayed, or we might have to work with these flu-like diseases for a longer period of time,” Jin said. “(The Sinovac, Sinopharm vaccines) are good, but they’re just not good enough. We want the vaccine to help put an end to the pandemic, and if that is the case, Pfizer and Moderna are doing a much better job.”

He said the manufacturers of the Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines have a responsibility to improve, which could just be a matter of increasing the dose or adding a third dose.

There are also signs China might not rely entirely on homegrown vaccines in the future. China’s Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical said in a Hong Kong Stock Exchange filing that it would work with BioNTech to produce up to 1 billion vaccines annually.

Pfizer and Moderna may roll out in more countries next year after manufacturing capacity is increased. But right now, there’s just not enough to go around.

Even so, getting a Chinese vaccine is still better than nothing, said Scott Rosenstein, director of the global health program at Eurasia Group.

“In places where that’s the only option, it still remains the best decision to take it,” he said.

And he worries that criticism of the Chinese vaccines may encourage people to wait until more effective vaccines become available.

“That itself creates challenges for the rollout, it means that you vaccinate people slower,” he said.

How does politics play into this?

As it exports vaccines around the world, Beijing has promoted the Sinopharm and Sinovac shots as “Chinese vaccines,” aligning the products with China’s government in a way not seen in the US or the UK.

After the WHO validated Sinovac and more efficacy data on Sinopharm was released in June, for example, state media Xinhua ran an editorial under the headline: “Latest evidence reaffirms Chinese vaccines’ benefits to the world.”

When the vaccines are a success, that reflects well on the Chinese Communist Party, even though Sinovac is a privately owned company (Sinopharm is state-owned). But because China’s shots are often flattened to “Chinese vaccines,” when there are questions over efficacy, that impacts all of them — and hurts the party, too.

Neither vaccine company has made extensive trial data public, which may allow efficacy questions to continue.

“The most I can say about that data is that those vaccines seem to work OK,” Rosenstein said. “You’re sort of partially flying blind here because the gold standard is a randomized trial, and we don’t have that much to work with for those.”

“If given the option to get inoculated again with Sinopharm or any other vaccine, I will refuse it.”Gandi Boldbaatar,
Mongolian student

The lack of data has fed skepticism. Now reports of cases even among vaccinated people is prompting a backlash. In Mongolia, where there’s already a long-running anti-China sentiment, partly thanks to a belief that neighboring China wants to undermine its sovereignty, many are frustrated about the rate of infections.

Gandi Boldbaatar, a 22-year-old student, said she was fully vaccinated with Sinopharm a month ago, but tested positive for Covid-19 last week and is now in intensive care in a government hospital. She said she didn’t think Mongolia’s vaccination campaign was very effective.

“I still got very sick,” she said. “If given the option to get inoculated again with Sinopharm or any other vaccine, I will refuse it.”

Some of the backlash is wrapped up in “political scorekeeping” over the vaccines, said Rosenstein. When China’s efforts started, Western countries were accused of hoarding vaccines. Questions over Chinese vaccine efficacy have come about as the US announced its own plans to donate millions of vaccines abroad.

“It’s too early to say that the verdict is in,” Rosenstein said. “The downside (of vaccine diplomacy) may have outweighed the upside … I think that the vaccine diplomacy objectives of China at this point are not being realized.”

But the bigger picture, Rosenstein said, isn’t about politics — it’s about health.

“It’s bad for public health when you have so much political jockeying instead of good faith discussions around what’s the best way to get this outbreak under control.”

@ CNN. Julia Hollingsworth wrote and reported from Hong Kong, with reporting from Saruul Enkhbold in Ulaanbaatar, Amy Sood and Sophie Jeong in Hong Kong, Yong Xiong in Seoul, Angus Watson in Sydney, David Culver in Beijing and Cristopher Ulloa in Santiago.

Experts are confounded, but officials are not very surprised that Vietnam managed to record a high GDP growth in the first six months.

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Source: Vietnam Insider

Luu Trung Thai, the Vice Chairman of the BOD cum CEO at Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MBBank) believes that the bank has achieved breakthroughs as it sees opportunities in the Covid-19 time.

In a recent interview with USA Today, a very popular daily newspaper of America, published on May 5, CEO MBBank has affirmed that in the context of Covid-19, MBBank has successfully kept the lights on while considering Covid-19 as a golden opportunity for the bank to promote digital transformation.

The banking landscape in Vietnam is being significantly reshaped by digitalization. And leading this digitalization wave is MBBank, which is making many aggressive and successful moves within the digital sphere: such as establishing its digital bank as an independent beta bank, creating its banking app (MBBank App) as a platform for multiple users, providing banking infrastructure (including license) as part of its services, and positioning itself as a technology-driven company. At the same time that MBBank is growing its assets, customer base and digital services, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors cum CEO, Luu Trung Thai, has set the bank’s goal to be in the Top 5 – while striving to reach the Top 3 – commercial banks in Vietnam in terms of quality and efficacy, while continuing to lead the nation’s digital transformation.

Related: How Vietnamese bank will digitize services for import and export firms?

The digital revolution has been sweeping across Asia recently. There has been a steady trend in the region of people turning to their mobiles and the Internet for banking services, with the number of physical branches in decline as more and more customers opt for the convenience of online services. In Vietnam, the prevalence of information technology was credited by the World Bank as one of the primary reasons the country dealt so rapidly and efficiently with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Not only were businesses able to go digital, consumers embraced online shopping and increasingly turned to the Internet for information on public services. Banking, with a solid foothold already in place, adapted swiftly to the changing mindset of customers in the age of COVID-19.

Vietnam is one of Asia’s fastest-growing digital economies, with the sector expected to represent 30% of the national economy by 2030. At a consumer level, smartphone penetration in Vietnam stood at 44.9% according to data from the latest annual Newzoo Global Mobile Market Report, the 15th-highest level in the world and which represented 43.7 million smartphone users. Accenture estimates that internet usage in the country will rise to cover 65.1% of the population in 2022, at a total of 63.8 million users, with smartphone penetration projected to reach 52%. By comparison, Japan’s total penetration in 2019 was around 57% and China’s just shy of 60%.

“Customers now don’t like to come to a physical transaction place. It’s too complicated because it involves a lot of paperwork, procedures and is very time-consuming,” Luu Trung Thai told the reporter. “Rather, customers tend to conduct transactions on their mobile through digital platforms.” “Regarding profitability, we are in the top five,” he notes. But there is a key difference in what MBBank offers and it is key to the institution’s overriding strategy: “For Vietnam today, we find that digital transformation is an opportunity, a tool to show Vietnam’s ability to other parts of the world,” Mr. Luu says. “In Vietnam, we also find some ways to serve a huge number of customers with the help of technology. At MBBank, we find that investing in platforms and technology can help us acquire millions of customers per year.”

With the pandemic prompting a push to accelerate digitization of product and service activities, Vietnam is currently implementing the National Digital Transformation Program 2020 – 2025, in which the banking and finance sector plays a crucial role. Under this Program, the Government of Vietnam has set a target for more than 50% of the population to have an electronic payments account by 2025, a goal which will be facilitated by MBBank’s digital services. At the forefront of the nation’s digitization drive, MBBank, with a vision to become the most convenient bank in Vietnam by 2021, has been taking pioneering steps towards digital transformation. It has created a series of new platforms, such as the MBBank App, the BizMB App, SmartRM and Smart CRM, providing outstanding digital experiences for its customers.

Through these digital platforms, businesses in a variety of fields can provide their essential products and services to customers. Indeed, rather than going to physical offices to pay their electricity, water, and phone bills, or education and health care fees, as they had to in the past, customers now can conduct payments quickly and conveniently on their mobile through the MBBank App, which is harnessing the power of the latest Industry 4.0 technologies. Thanks to the power of artificial intelligence, the MBBank App uses Electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) technology to verify that a customer’s identity matches their ID card, which ensures that opening an online bank account with the MBBank App is much easier and safer. Meanwhile, Big Data analysis is significantly facilitating the credit application process for customers, allowing for the automatic generation of customer credit ratings.

As a result of these pioneering steps in the digital sphere, MBBank made a major breakthrough in 2020. “It took us over 20 years to acquire 4.5 million customers. But within the year 2020 alone, thanks to enhancing digital transformation, MBBank attracted two million more customers. It shows that, in just one year, we can acquire the same number of customers as we did previously in 10 or even 20 years. I think it’s a golden opportunity for the country,” Mr. Luu says. An MBBank report shows that, in 2020, its transaction rate grew three-fold, reaching 90 million electronic transactions. More than 84% of the transactions were conducted via digital channels. And this number is expected to increase even more in the near future.
In August 2020, MB Shinsei Finance Limited Liability Company (Mcredit), a joint venture between MBBank and Japan’s Shinsei Bank, launched the Mcredit JCB Credit Card in an effort to bridge the gap in the consumer credit market. Card holders will benefit from zero interest at over 40,000 retailers in Vietnam, as well as access to over a million ATMs globally. It is all part of Mr. Luu’s vision for MBBank and the sector at large: no waiting around. As digital banking reduces the need to travel to branches, maybe getting stuck in traffic en route, only to then join a queue at the destination, targeting like-minded customers produces the best of both worlds.

“How do you assess the level of convenience of a bank? From my perspective, it’s the speed you deliver your services to your customers and the number of customers you are able to serve at the same time. For example, if you can serve at high speed, but only a few customers, that’s not enough. I want to serve 20 million customers at high speed,” Mr. Luu says. MBBank also recognizes the potential for the digital transformation to have a positive impact on humanitarian work. As part of its participation in Vietnam’s National Digital Transformation Program 2020-2025, MBBank has been shifting charity work from the traditional to digital sphere through iNhandao (https://inhandao.vn), a government-level digital humanitarian platform in coordination with the Vietnam Red Cross and Vietnam’s Post Office.

With a modern, convenient and easy-to-access approach, this platform offers a transparent method for people to help those most in need, whose addresses are made available on the platform after being checked and verified by the Vietnam Red Cross. Money donations and the payment of goods designated for those in need can then be made online and delivered to beneficiaries through the Post Office’s Smart Logistics system. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, humanitarian work has remained a top priority for MBBank. Vietnam’s rapid response to the threat of novel coronavirus spared the country from the worst of the pandemic but with the world in the grip of the next wave of infections, digital banking is likely to be as much part of the “new normal” panorama as online learning, remote working and reduced capacity recreation. What began as an organic shift based on an increasing tendency for everyday transactions to be performed remotely for convenience could well prove to form the very fabric of online business and personal finance as the world moves inexorably towards cashless societies.

“The key for our success is our hunger for success. The second factor is the platform, how we understand the customers. The customer experience is the key to building a good platform, good services” – said Luu Trung Thai.

For banks, the society entering the “new normal” represents a double-edged sword: social responsibility on the one side and the need to remain solvent on the other, with the weight of public opinion towards financial institutions weighing heavily on the sharp end. “I think now social responsibility is what we should focus on promoting,” Mr. Luu observes. MBBank has recently donated more than 2.6 million USD, equivalent to 60 billion VND, to the Vietnam Fund for Vaccination and Prevention of COVID-19, contributing to finance the country’s effort to secure 120 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2021.

“So, I think in 2020, how to survive with customers during COVID-19 was another perspective. We adopted a strategy to balance growth and save costs. In 2020, MBBank implemented a reduction in operating expenses with cost-to-income ratio (CIR) decreasing by nearly 3% compared to 2019, while revenue still increased by 10% compared to the previous year. We believe that, after COVID-19, opportunities will come to us. Once you have the ability to stand strong during a difficult time, you will come back stronger,” added Luu Trung Thai.

Related

Source: Vietnam Insider

State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended the event, the first special promotion event held by the ministry after the epidemic was brought under control, and addressed the audience.

He said Hubei reported the earliest case of COVID-19 and was the first to control the epidemic, which was why the special promotion event became the largest one attended by the highest number of foreign ambassadors.

He said Hubei’s fight against the epidemic was a miniature of China’s efforts to combat the virus, and mirrored the country’s spirit and strength. Such spirit will be recorded not only in the chapters of China’s development, but also the history of mankind’s fight against the novel coronavirus, he remarked.

Ying Yong, Secretary of Hubei Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), introduced at the event that the province recovered 95.6 percent of its 2019 GDP last year, despite a drastic decline of 39.2 percent in the first quarter.

The sound momentum of overall growth was maintained this year, he said, adding that the value added of industrial enterprises, each with an annual income of 20 million yuan ($3.06 million) or over, surged 99.2 percent year on year in the first two months of 2021. Besides, the province’s investment, consumption, and total import and export grew 245.8 percent, 55.5 percent, and 82.5 percent, respectively in the same period, Ying noted.

Today’s Hubei enjoys infinite vitality and bright prospects, said the Party head of the province.

Themed “Heroic Hubei: Reborn for New Glories,” the special promotion event was also attended by Wang Xiaodong, Governor of Hubei province and Wang Zhonglin, Secretary of Wuhan Municipal Committee of the CPC.

Source: http://world.people.com.cn/GB/8212/54369/437260/index.html
Video: https://youtu.be/5hm8xyQHanw