BEIJING, May 7: China will let retail investors trade in a nationwide over-the-counter market for non-public companies similar to the U.S. OTC Bulletin Board, a top securities regulator said on Monday.
Apart from the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges which trade shares of listed companies, there are exchanges in many other cities such as Beijing, Tianjin and Chongqing, known as China’s ‘third boards,’ trading unlisted securities.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), the industry watchdog, has been working with brokerages on plans to launch a uniformly regulated OTC market, while cleaning up more than 300 local exchanges across the country trading various types of asset ownership.
Yao Gang, CSRC’s vice chairman, told a meeting in Beijing that the regulator would allow retail investors to trade unlisted shares once the OTC market goes nationwide, but with restrictions based on their investment experience.
The CSRC started a trial six years ago in Beijing’s Zhongguancun area and the exchange now trades equity stakes of about 100 unlisted companies. The annual transaction volume of less than 600 million yuan in 2011 is nothing compared with the main Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges.
‘In the future, when the trial becomes nationwide, we plan to let individual investors enter the market, but they must meet certain requirements,’ Yao said.
He did not say when the OTC market would become nationwide. The CSRC’s blueprint is to first expand the trial to high-tech parks in China and then across the country. (AGENCIES)
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