Illegal margin debts probe won't crash markets: CSRC

Investors look at computer screens showing stock information at a brokerage in Shanghai, August 13, 2015.[Photo/Agencies]

A crackdown on illegal margin financing will not have significant impact on markets, for only a small percentage faced forced liquidation, said securities regulator on Monday.

As of Friday, 39 percent or 2,094 accounts suspected of wrongdoings were yet to be cleaned up, which hold combined 187.6 billion yuan of stocks, according to China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).

Of the 3,255 accounts cleaned up, 76.3 percent chose to adopt legal way of financing, whereas only 6.3 percent cancelled their accounts altogether, said Deng Ge, spokesman of the CSRC, via its microblog.

"Forced liquidation was at a low level, therefore based on current pace, clean up on the rest won't have significant impact on markets," he said, adding that investigations into unauthorized securities businesses and accounts that were registered under false names have come to an end.

The securities watchdog last week punished four of the country's largest brokerages for failing to verify clients and knowingly providing services to unqualified investors through a system developed by Hundsun Technologies.

Haitong Securities, Huatai Securities, Founder Securities, GF Securities and Zheshang Futures Co were fined a combined 178.5 million yuan ($28 million) for carrying out alleged illegal trading activities.

The overall risk derived from brokerages using stock as collateral is controllable, and such businesses totaled around 600 billion yuan have a limited impact on markets, the spokesman added.