Across The BorderCSRC’s reform plans in the offing, now market’s stabilised
Securities regulator’s chairman Liu Shiyu preparing to give the all clear
The decision last week to relax the mainland securities regulator’s rules on stock index futures trading effectively signalled the official end to the massive rescue efforts made since 2015, when a stock market crash wiped US$5 trillion off the value of shares, and sparked a deep crisis of confidence.
But a lot of uncertainty still revolves around the mainland’s securities sector, as Liu Shiyu, chairman of China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), is yet to shed any further light on how he plans to steer the equity market in the right direction.
Companies, brokerages, asset managers, and retail investors, for instance, are still left wondering when long-delayed reforms such as easing the initial public offering (IPO) system and tightening delisting regulations will be implemented.
Those investors, still stuck with huge paper losses in some cases, are pinning their hopes on early action by the regulator.
On February 15, the China Financial Futures Exchange (CFFE) announced it would double the daily cap to 20 contracts while lowering margin requirements and trading fees.
The move represented a significant step towards eliminating a series of strict rules imposed on equity and derivative trading in the summer stock rout of 2015.