The study attempts to explore economic, financial, and institutional developmental factors that contribute to the growth of the size of corporate bond markets by using the data set from ten Asian economies (China; Hong Kong, Indonesia; Japan; Korea; Malaysia; the Philippines; Singapore; Thailand; and Vietnam). The empirical findings by generalized least squares model show that the level of economic development as shown by GDP per capita is one of the most important factors in the development of corporate bond markets.

Corporate bond ratings published by rating agencies play an important role for both companies and market participants because they provide information about the quality and marketability of various bond issues. For this reason, the rating changes announced by rating agencies must be carefully examined to assess their relevance and usefulness to market participants. The overall objective of this study is to examine whether bond rating changes announcements contain pricing-relevant information, and this objective is supported by six specific aims.

The thesis assesses the status of the impact of a number of factors on market size; some recommendations to increase the market size of Vietnamese enterprises; Proposing some recommendations to increase the market size of Vietnam corporate bond market.