China Securities Regulator To Roll Out IPO Reforms To ChiNext Startup Board

The registration-based mechanism for initial public offerings (IPOs) that underpins the successful launch of Shanghai’s Nasdaq-style STAR Market will be rolled out on Shenzhen’s start-up board ChiNext, China’s top securities regulator said on Sunday.

Yi Huiman, Chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), told Xinhua in an exclusive interview that regulators will accelerate efforts to reform ChiNext and revamp its IPO system, so as to allow the market to decide which companies should list. He didn’t give a timetable.

China in June launched the STAR Market, paired with a U.S.-style IPO system, as Beijing stepped up efforts to foster technology sectors such as chip-making and Artificial Intelligence (AI) amid a debilitating trade war with Washington.

Yi said that the registration-based IPO system on the STAR Market is a major breakthrough and will be gradually rolled out, along with other reform measures, across China’s capital markets, according to Xinhua. Under such a system, CSRC no longer vets IPO applicants, slashing the waiting period for listing candidates.

The other reform measures include widening the trading band of stocks, improving mechanisms for margin trading and short selling, and making the approval process easier for mergers and acquisitions, according to Xinhua.

The STAR Market has been running smoothly for over 100 days, and great technology companies will eventually emerge out of it, Yi told Xinhua.

Reuters