(March 11): Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange is said to be starting a new trading system in May, as Vietnam works to win an upgrade to emerging-market status.

Securities companies will conduct a transition test from March 17 until April 11, according to statements seen by Bloomberg that the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange sent to some brokerages. If the test goes without issue, the new trading system can go live in May, according to a person familiar with the matter who declined to be named as this information is still private.

The new system, known as KRX, is expected to start operation in either May or June, the State Securities Commission said in a statement on its website Tuesday.

The new trading system would help shorten the settlement cycle and will likely help Vietnam in its bid to attain emerging market status from frontier market in global indexes.

The upgraded system “will expand trading capacity and further align Vietnam’s capital markets with global standards”, said Marco Martinelli, a partner at Turicum Investment Management.

It’s also expected to enhance market liquidity with new financial products, according to SSI Securities Corp.

The Southeast Asian nation has taken a series of measures in recent years to make its equities more attractive to global funds, including seeking to gain reclassification as an emerging market by FTSE Russell. Vietnam in November removed a requirement for overseas investors to fully prefund equity trades, one of the longstanding barriers to its potential upgrade.

The State Securities Commission last year had rejected the exchange’s proposal to start the KRX system, as it failed to show that local brokerages were ready to connect to the system. The bourse had asked securities companies to record data on Feb 28 to be used for testing of the KRX, news website The Investor reported in February.

Calls to executives at the Ho Chi Minh City exchange went unanswered.

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