(Chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-07-17 08:32

The Chinese securities regulator on July 10 gave the go-ahead to the country's first futures company wholly owned by a securities firm, China Business News reported on Monday.

China Futures has raised its registered capital to 150 million yuan (US$19.7 million) from the current 34.88 million yuan, and been approved by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) to become a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Securities.

Ding Jie, general manager of China Futures, said that CITIC Securities and its two subsidiaries, China Securities and Wantong Securities, will respectively hold a 41 percent, 49 percent and 10 percent stake in the futures company.

One year ago, CSRC began to encourage securities firms to acquire shares of futures companies by eliminating the 50-percent ceiling of ownership in futures companies, simplifying equity change and takeover appraisal, and allowing the purchasers to involve in the management of the subjects in advance.

In addition, the Futures Exchange Management Regulations released this March and other relevant rules no longer impose shareholding limitations on the acquisition of futures companies by securities brokerages.

Securities brokerages like Huatai, Everbright, Guotai Junan, Guangfa, and Changjiang also had plans to raise registered capital of their futures subsidiaries, and have all applied to expand their futures shareholding.

Tan Xianrong, general manager of Changjiang Futures, regretted not getting the regulator's approval yet, but he believed CSRC's approval of China Futures to be wholly owned by a securities firm was a breakthrough for the development of China's futures sector.