Chinese securities regulator's Weibo launch draws fire from critics
China Securities Regulation Committee weibo drew over 200,000 subscribers on first day of launch
Yet the new initiative by China Securities Regulation Committee (CSRC), which drew over 200,000 followers on the first day of its launch, soon became a venting ground for disgruntled stock investors.
“We strive to maintain the openness and fairness of our market, and protect the legal rights of our investors,” CSRC said in its greeting message. “And we will release authoritative information on this channel to better communicate with net users and serve investors.”
The textbook-style post failed to impress investors, with many urging CSRC to live up to its promises with meaningful actions.
“We don’t need your protection, we need a fair 'T+0' system,” many wrote, arguing that the current system works against their interests.
China currently operates a T+1 system where settlement occurs a day after the transaction date. Investors have been criticising this for years, urging that the settlement rule be changed to allow them to buy and sell stock on the same day.
Despite rumours about a possible reform, Xinhua reported in July that there was no timetable for implementing T+0 stock trading in the country.
Other microbloggers criticised CSRC on Weibo for failing to regulate and punish firms that went public only to milk money from their investors.
“For more than a decade, so many firms have 'cheated' their way into the stock market, jeopardising interests of small investors - and then managed to get out afterwards,” one wrote.
Xiao Gang, the head of CSRC since march, has launched numerous measures to support the country's beleaguered stock market since he took office.
In the article, Xiao vowed to reform regulations to give individual shareholders equal access to information as institutional investors, and to allow their voices to be heard during the decision-making processes of listed companies. He also suggested that a better compensation system should be set up to allow investors to find ways to settle disputes and sue for damages.
