China will unveil fresh measures to burnish the appeal of its five-year-old Nasdaq-style tech board, the Star Market, the head of the country’s securities regulator said at a financial forum in Shanghai.
These reforms will focus on offerings, underwritings, mergers and incentives to promote tech innovation and President Xi Jinping’s initiative of “new productive force”, he said, without providing details.
It was Wu’s first appearance at the gathering since he was abruptly appointed in February to helm China’s US$9 trillion stock market. Wu’s appointment has found favour among investors, as Chinese stocks have rebounded after a three-year decline, since he took office. Foreign investors snapped up Chinese stocks for a fourth straight month in May.
Some of his forceful measures include curbs on new share offerings and strict punishments against fraudulent listings and accounting.
Wu’s speech comes at a time when the rebound in Chinese stocks has shown signs of losing steam, with investors focusing on China’s economic fundamentals. Economic data for May indicated that an uneven recovery was under way, with retail sales growth accelerating while industrial production falling short of estimates amid an accelerating fall in home prices.
The CSI 300 Index slipped 0.2 per cent on Wednesday and the Star Market 50 Index also fell by that much.
Wu, 59 and a native of China’s eastern Anhui province, was dubbed the “broker butcher” after he ordered the closure of about 20 insolvent brokerages at the turn of the century, during a crisis in the country’s securities industry. He has served as the chairman of the Shanghai exchange and a deputy mayor of Shanghai, where he was a lieutenant to Li Qiang, who was then the city’s party boss and is now China’s premier.
The Lujiazui forum, an annual fixture since 2008, is seen as a symbol of China’s financial sector reforms and represents Shanghai’s ambitions to become a global financial centre. The Lujiazui financial zone is home to the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the 632-metre Shanghai Tower, the world’s third-tallest skyscraper. The two-day conference this year has drawn about 70 speakers and officials from institutions including the People’s Bank of China, Hong Kong’s Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.