The chief of the Korea Financial Investment Association and the Vietnamese ambassador to South Korea on Wednesday discussed ways to expand investment and bolster financial cooperation between the two nations. Six local brokerages and 10 asset management companies currently have subsidiaries or offices in Vietnam.

KOFIA Chairman Na Jae-chul said the organization hopes to strengthen cooperation by signing a memorandum of understanding with the State Securities Commission of Vietnam.

“We’ll further discuss ways to revise regulations on the local firms’ listings on the Vietnamese stock market and the investment companies’ business expansion in the Southeast Asian nation,” he said.

According to global credit rating agencies’ analysis, the Vietnamese economy has weathered the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The country’s economic growth this year is projected to mark 8.6 percent, the KOFIA officials said, citing the report.

“Vietnam is in transition to a new cabinet with leaders focused on economic growth. The ambassador will deliver messages from today’s meeting to relevant organizations … to help ease the burden of Korean financial companies operating in Vietnam,” KOFIA said in a statement summarizing Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Vu Tung’s remarks at the meeting.

“Since Korea has been our No. 1 investor and we’ve been Asia’s fourth-largest economy’s No. 4 trading partner, we have great expectations of Korean investment industry’s interactions for our capital market’s developments,” the ambassador said.

KOFIA represents 460 local brokerages and asset management firms in Korea.

By Jie Ye-eun (yeeun@heraldcorp.com)