By the middle of 2017, Saigon Securities could rightly claim to have already had a fantastic year. The firm’s revenues jumped 9.5% year-on-year to hit D762.1 billion ($33.5 million), according to local press reports. That was driven in large part by its securities brokerage, which managed to double its revenues compared to the year before.
Few other award winners on these pages would dare dream of doubling their brokerage revenues year-on-year. For most, double-digit growth would be a staggering performance. But in Vietnam’s embryonic market, all is there for the taking.
This performance alone would have given Saigon Securities a strong claim to be the top securities house in Vietnam. But its overwhelming showing in our Brokers Poll 2016, where it cleaned up in almost every local category, gave the firm another edge. Its research analysts were voted best in class in every category apart from industrials.
Top three
Saigon cannot claim big primary market successes over the last year, but that was no great surprise. Foreign banks hog much of the deal flow in Vietnam, leaving local institutions forced to concentrate on smaller deals to generate revenue.
Between July 2016 and June 2017, foreign firms took the top three slots on the investment banking revenue league tables. Behind them, three firms were tied for fourth — and of those, two were also foreign institutions. Viet Capital Securities made sure local firms were not entirely overwhelmed, winning a slot on the only IPO in the country all year, according to Dealogic data.
The mandate deserves respect, and is something that Saigon Securities will no doubt have eyed jealously. But for its eye-catching revenue growth, its impressive research effort and its clear client satisfaction, Saigon Securities is undoubtedly a worthy winner of this award.