Today we went to the Ben Thanh market to buy souvenirs and practice bartering in Vietnamese. We have been taking language classes and we were able to test out our new skills! For lunch we ate at a delicious Japanese restaurant and then in the afternoon we visited Thien Viet Securities (TVS). TVS is an investment bank and financial management company.
The market had very narrow pathways and stands that were packed with merchandise. We had to bargain prices with the sellers to try to get the best deal and I bought a lot of souvenirs. This market catered to tourists and all of the Vietnamese students said that the prices were inflated because many Vietnamese people think all westerners are very rich. Even with trying to barter many of us got bad deals, but at least we got souvenirs for our families and practiced our Vietnamese.
The company visit to TVS in the afternoon was very interesting and the staff member who showed us around was very engaging. We learned more about the Vietnamese economy and foreign direct investment. We also learned about the Vietnamese stock exchange and compared it to Wall Street. The stock market in America is much larger and has been around for a lot longer than the one in Vietnam. A lot of the finance jargon went over our head, but the presenter and our professor did a good job of watering the information down for us. The organizational culture was interesting and visiting this company gave us a good look into how investment banks work. The investment bank had a more organized and formal culture. It was very quiet and everyone was working diligently at their desks when we walked into the main area of the company. Most of the employees had left when we got there because stock trading was over for the day, so it was difficult to get a sense of the culture when they were up and running. In general I think financial institutions are a bit more formal because there are many regulations that they must follow to keep people’s money safe and keep track of all of their stock portfolios. TVS is a relatively small company, so I think that it was a little less formal than a bigger company. This is because there is less of a hierarchy among employees and everyone probably knows each other better. There is also definitely room for creativity in this industry because each company that comes to them has a different set of needs and financial statuses, so they have to tailor a plan specifically for that company. TVS assists companies in bankruptcy, asset acquisition, and stock exchanges. Overall it was cool to learn about investment banks and the stock market. Vietnam’s stock market is growing and there will definitely be more capital entering the country in the coming years.
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