HANOI, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- South Korean financial group Mirae Asset has established a securities company in Vietnam, the first of its kind in the country, local newspaper People reported Friday.

    The South Korean-backed securities firm in southern Ho Chi MinhCity has a chartered capital of 300 billion Vietnamese dong (18.7 million U.S. dollars). Its operation is supported by Mirae Asset which currently possesses and manages assets totaling 123 billion dollars, the newspaper said.

    Vietnam currently has 133 kinds of listed shares, 407 kinds of listed bonds, mostly government bonds, and two listed investment funds totaling 83,516 billion Vietnamese dong (nearly 5.22 billion dollars), according to the latest statistics from the country's State Securities Commission.