China to speed up capital market development

China is set to speed up its establishment of a multi-layered capital market, Premier Wen Jiabao emphasized in his annual government work report delivered March 6 to the National People's Congress, China's top legislature.

On the sidelines of the first session of the 12th NPC meeting this week, CCTV reporter Yin Hang spoke with Gui Minjie, chairman of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Gui said the stock exchange will improve its management and transparency, in order to attract more investors with better services and products.

In his annual work report, Wen stressed that China will speed up development and reforms of its capital market. Echoing these sentiments, Gui said the exchange will pursue more innovative development initiatives at the SSE.

"[Wen's work report] provides guidance for the future development of China's stock markets. It also gives us more pressure. It's also a sign that there is a lot that we can do in better serving China's real economic growth and achieving the markets' function of resources allocation," Gui said.

Gui also said the SSE can attract more companies into its blue-chip stock market. The exchange will create a better environment for market players, in a bid to make market resources more accessible to companies. The exchange will also improve China's de-listing mechanisms, making their supervision more efficient and transparent.

In recent years, China's stock markets have lagged behind other major indices. Investors and even deputies to the National People's Congress have complained that the stock market cannot bring wealth to investors. The Chinese government has made efforts to restore confidence, in part by trying to crack down on insider trading, increase transparency, and improve trading regulations.

Guo Shuqing, head of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, is vowing to reduce the role the government plays in approving initial public offerings and shift more power to auditors and investment banks. He aims to foster a more transparent market where various players take on greater responsibilities for their own actions.

China's main bourse also says it will make more efforts to increase the competitiveness of the market. "We will push forward the development of more trans-border Exchange Traded Funds products. We believe it's a crucial step to opening up China's capital market. And we're also considering rolling out more financial products to our investors. And currently China's market trading methods [are too] simple. We will make more innovations to improve that," Gui said.