Morning news 8/24: HAGL shares escape warning status; More than 11.4 million people in Ho Chi Minh City have health insurance

Tin tức sáng 24-8: Cổ phiếu HAGL thoát khỏi diện cảnh báo; Hơn 11,4 triệu người ở TP.HCM có BHYT - Ảnh 1. — Illustration drawn by AI

Risk of money laundering and terrorist financing activities taking advantage of digital assets

At the recent ASEAN Capital Market Forum (ACMF) workshop on supervision and enforcement in the field of crypto assets in ASEAN, Mr. Bui Hoang Hai - Vice Chairman of the Securities Commission - said that over the past decade, the digital asset market has developed remarkably and become an increasingly influential part of the global financial system.

At one point, the global capitalization of this market reached more than 4,000 billion USD, with the emergence of millions of different types of digital assets.

Countries are making efforts to come up with many solutions and regulations to manage and monitor the digital asset market, especially to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing, and financing of weapons of mass destruction. However, along with opportunities, Mr. Hai said that the digital asset sector also brings great challenges to management agencies.

In particular, the decentralized, borderless and anonymous nature of digital assets leads to difficulties in management and supervision, according to Mr. Hai.

The risk of money laundering and terrorist financing activities taking advantage of the anonymity and decentralization of blockchain technology is increasing, posing an urgent need for a strict monitoring mechanism and effective coordination of actions not only between the management agencies of each country but also a mechanism for coordination, management and supervision between countries.

Therefore, the leader of the Securities Commission emphasized that the above challenges require the management agency to not only improve the domestic legal framework but also strengthen regional coordination, gradually building common and harmonious standards while still respecting the differences in the development context of each country.

Visrating: Small Banks Are Falling Behind

In a recently released banking industry update report, Visrating - a credit rating agency with capital from Moody's - pointed out that small banks are lagging behind the industry's recovery as liquidity pressure increases.

Specifically, in the first 6 months of this year, the creditworthiness of large banks and state-owned banks (SOBs) has improved, thanks to a reduction in bad debt (NPL) in the context of a recovering real estate market.

Lower credit costs coupled with improved bad debt recovery have helped increase return on average assets (ROAA) and risk absorption buffers.

In contrast, small banks are reportedly facing many difficulties, affected by high provisioning and increased capital mobilization costs due to increasingly fierce competition.

These banks are also vulnerable to liquidity pressures due to limited liquid assets and heavy reliance on short-term market funding.

Looking ahead, Visrating expects asset quality and profitability to gradually recover in the second half of 2025, thanks to continued stability in the real estate market and supportive policies that benefit large and state-owned banks.

Bau Duc's company shares escape warning status

Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE) has just decided to remove HAG shares of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Joint Stock Company from the warning list.

The decision takes effect from August 26. According to HoSE, Hoang Anh Gia Lai Company has resolved the cause of the stock warning.

Previously, the enterprise with Mr. Doan Nguyen Duc (Bau Duc) as Chairman of the Board of Directors was put on warning status from October 2022 due to accumulated losses.

The financial report shows that by the end of 2024, the accumulated loss was still at VND422.6 billion. However, in the financial report for the second quarter of 2025, the company erased the accumulated loss and recorded more than VND400 billion in undistributed profit after tax.

More than 11.4 million people in Ho Chi Minh City have health insurance cards.

According to Vietnam Social Security, in the first 6 months of 2025, Ho Chi Minh City had more than 11.55 million people participating in social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance.

Of these, 3.91 million people participated in compulsory social insurance, more than 91,400 people participated in voluntary social insurance, 3.83 million people participated in unemployment insurance and especially more than 11.46 million people had health insurance cards.

tin tức - Ảnh 3. — Health insurance patients wait for examination at Gia Dinh People's Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City - Photo: THUY DUONG

The insurance coverage rate in the city is at a positive level, with about 58.6% of working-age people participating in social insurance, over 56% participating in unemployment insurance and over 82% participating in health insurance.

However, compared to the end of 2024, the number of people participating in insurance decreased by more than 37,000 people, requiring a more flexible and practical solution.

In response, Ho Chi Minh City Social Insurance has increased communication, expanded the group of participants, especially individual business owners according to the Social Insurance Law 2024 (effective from July 1, 2025), and closely coordinated with local authorities, stepped up inspection and examination to ensure the rights of workers.