Race for Talent Is On as Bankers Brace for IPO Boom in Vietnam

Vietnam’s potential upgrade to emerging-market status by FTSE Russell in September has investment banks bulking up staff in anticipation of a flood of initial public offerings.

Brokerage VnDirect Securities Corp. aims to lift headcount in its investment-banking division by 20% to 30% over the next 12 to 18 months, while Vietcap Securities — which recently advised the IPO of VPBank Securities — plans to expand its team by as much as 40% next year. That is to keep up with an expected pipeline of tens of billions of dollars in equity debuts over the next two to three years.